Apple Pickin'

Well, after a morning of, "Why do we have to do this?", "This is going to be so boring!", "How far is it?", "It's too cold", "Your mother wants to do this so just go along with it." , I was getting a little discouraged and worried that our "fun family day" was going to be a bust. Todd actually had a Saturday off of work, so I decided we would go to Oak Glen and go apple picking. We've been there before, just not during picking season. I thought it was a great idea because my kids are major apple eaters. They go through 2 large bags of apples a week! We got there a little early and the orchards weren't open yet, so we cruised around Riley's Farm and bought fresh apple cider, walked through their little pumpkin patch, and checked out their petting zoo. The kids were perking up a little,but still weren't100% on board with this adventure yet.

Trevor.....being Trevor....

Maddie of course was loving the animals.

We took a little hike on a nature trail we found and ended up here.

And then FINALLY it was apple picking time! We got our bag and box to put the apples in and trudged up the hill to the trees. It was a little slow going at first, but then, lo and behold, the kids actually started getting into it and having a great time. At different times throughout the apple picking, each kid came up to me and told me how much fun this was and thanked me for making them come. Music to a mother's ears!

Maddie got a little carried away with her first apple and got the branch along with the apple.

Trevor

Maddie

Nate

Todd and Maddie were scoring the good apples way up top thanks to a little teamwork.

I had to catch this on film- Trevor and Maddie together, happy, and getting along!

After picking, we went through a corn maze and found this guy along the way. Maddie was a little disturbed that the scarecrow didn't have a face drawn on. None of them were to thrilled about stopping for a picture here.

Nate and Mom

Nate, Trevor, Maddie, and Mom

We made it out!

After all of that hard work, we ate lunch at Apple Annie's where we enjoyed some yummy fried chicken and apple cider. On our way out we stopped at the bakery and loaded up on apple dumplings, an apple pie, and raspberry turnovers. Mmmm!

So I'm marking this trip as a success. Looks like Mom might know a thing or two after all, huh?! You're welcome family!