Apple Pickin'

This weekend was really the first weekend we've had as a family of four in a long time.  My cousin Scott has lived with us for the last 6 months and moved out a couple weekends ago.  Then David had a bachelor party weekend to go to and I took the babies home to see family.  So, we have really been itching for some time together.  The weather was beautiful, both babies behaved, and we made the best kind of memories.  So, basically it was the best weekend.

We got up, got ready, and got out the door in one hour.  ONE HOUR, PEOPLE!  I'm pretty sure that's some kind of record.  We stopped by Panera for coffee (duh.) and bagel sandwiches and hit the road.  We like to go to Skytop Orchard in the mountains of North Carolina and it didn't disappoint.

When you get there, they give you a map, a rundown of the place, what apples are ripe for the pickin' and you pick a basket.  Do you want 10 pounds worth of apples or 20?  Hadley is almost 3 years old and with all that wisdom she's pretty much the decision-maker in our house these days, so she grabbed a red basket. (10 pounds.  Thank goodness.)



This girl had so much fun.  She told everyone we saw that she was going to pick a red apple!  A red apple!  A red apple!  So our first stop was to pick a red apple.  She started off picking her own from the bottom of the trees and we quickly realized those were spotty and starting to go bad.





So her Daddy lifted her up and she got to pick apples from the tippy-top of the trees.  This girl loves her Daddy and seeing him lift her up on his shoulders was a sweet moment for me.  Those two were having fun.







Mommy wanted some apples for baking (because pie.) so Hadley helped me pick some good jonagolds and we have big plans for pie baking this week. Griffin was content to just sit in his stroller, but we didn't want him to miss out on the apple pickin' fun!





Daddy helped him discover apple pickin' and Griffin liked it okay, but he really enjoyed eating the apple itself.  He wouldn't even put the apple down for a picture with his favorite momma.





We picked our peck of apples and headed around to visit the animals.  They have ducks, chickens, roosters, peacocks, sheep, goats...etc.  And Hadley got such a kick out of feeding the goats!



Probably the highlight of Skytop is their apple donuts and apple slush drinks.  The first time we went to Skytop, David and I bought one donut each and a slush drink to share.  We finished our one donut, realized our mistake, and promptly went back to buy a dozen apple donuts and another drink!  We didn't make that mistake this year and went ahead with buying the dozen apple donuts!  We got our own apple slush drinks but shared with Hadley and Griffin.



Being the second child has its perks, according to G-man.  You get to eat apple donuts and drink apple slush before you turn one.  Never in a million years would I have been okay giving Hadley a bite of sugar before she turned one.  The horrors! :)



They have a huge play area so we let Hadley run out some energy playing.  She's so tiny, but thinks she is such a big kid.  She likes to play with the big kids, too.  It makes my momma heart nervous, but she can hold her own and she had a great time.



We ended up driving 15 more minutes to Hendersonville to walk around the town and grab a bite for lunch.  Both kids slept the entire way home and I just really don't think we could have asked for a better day.  I am so thankful I get to do life with these people!