Apple Picking, 2021

We are so lucky! We live just 20 minutes from a FABULOUS apple orchard that offers U-Pick apples (and raspberries!). I first found out about it from one of John's residents who planned the 2020 Resident Retreat here. I've been wanting to go for several weeks now (I'm looking at you, early ripening McIntosh apples), and we finally made it happen. Thankfully, Mark was home too, so he got to partake in the goodness. Erwin's makes it super easy to do:

Pay for your empty plastic bag and hop on the wagon (pulled unceremoniously through the mud by a tractor):

Hop off. Pick apples. Eat as many as you can before you fill your bag. John wants Macs, Hannah opted for a variety of Golden Delicious, Macs and Empires.

(You'll notice that I am NOT eating any apples in any pictures. Yeah, I don't really want to repeat the "hillbilly" look that I got the one time I bit into an apple and snapped my front tooth out....)

Ten minutes later, hop back on. Continue to eat apples. Head to raspberry field.

Pick raspberries.

Done!

Comments

The FIRST of the Best Days of My Life

I'm always amazed when people can answer the question, "What was the best day of your life?" For me, I've never had a specific answer. The typical response of "my wedding day" doesn't work for me, because in all honesty, our wedding day was pretty sad with no family in attendance. The second most popular answer of "the day my child was born" only conjures up feelings of pain, misery and exhaustion for me. Really, up to this point, the best day of my life is anytime my family is together, and we are laughing, and talking, and ... being together. I guess if I could string all of those moments into one solitary day, that would be the best day of my life. Everything changed though on Tuesday, October 27, 2015. In fact, I feel quite relieved now, knowing that I can answer the proverbial question successfully and succinctly, for on that day, Anneliese Margaret Kennedy joined our family, and there has never been a better day in my life. Po...

SURPRISE!!

When the pizza guy came to the door last night, here's what John saw: It took a few seconds for John to process who the pizza delivery man was, but when he did, he was incredibly happy (and couldn't stop saying "heeeeyyyyy....". It was Jared Moran, John's best friend. And me, I just knelt down, right then and there, and began repenting of all the lies that I have told over the last four months, hiding this most amazing surprise :-) I told Sarah the other day that I was glad to see the light at the end of the falsehood tunnel, because if I kept this up much longer, I was destined to end up in liars' hell... Jared ran the Air Force marathon with John last year. It was his first marathon, and from what he told us, his last. However, he called in June and said he was coming again, but I was supposed to keep it a surprise from John. I'm not sure what changed his mind, but we sure are glad he did. John hates runnings marathons alone, and ther...

Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I'm writing this, not as a complaint, but as a plea. If anyone has any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. My children are talented. In fact, every child that I have ever met is talented in some way. That's the fun thing about meeting kids--discovering those hidden talents. Some of the talents my children possess are very public--you guessed it...music. Some aren't so public--kindness and generosity. My kids are frequently judged by other children because of their musical talents. Other kids see them as "snobs" because they play their instruments well and because they are willing to share those talents whenever asked. My kids never play with arrogance. They recognize that they are better at music than most kids their age, but they never, ever show it. In fact, they are very generous with compliments towards other kids and their efforts with music. I have raised them to appreciate anyone who tries to do anything with music--it's ...

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Search This Blog