Apple Picking! (Sort of)

I've been wanting to go apple picking ever since the weather turned fall-ish. I thought it would be fun for the kids, and I've also been craving apple pie. :)

Unfortunately, even though Washington is famous for apples, the closest apple picking place is almost two hours away! (Apparently all the apples are on the other side of the state.) My friend Aubrey and I decided it would be fun to take a little homeschool road trip and the kids were SO excited. Evan was counting down the days until apple picking. Even Ellie was excited. She kept asking about "app-o pick-o" (apple pickle), which was just too cute.

Yesterday, we loaded up and drove the two hours. When we got there, it was CLOSED! Apparently, they are only keeping hours on the weekends now.

We wandered around until we found a guy riding a tractor and told him we had driven all the way from Seattle. He was super nice and told us that we couldn't buy apples because there was no one there to help us, but that we could wander around the orchard and pick a few if we wanted to. That was good enough for us! We headed into the orchard and wandered around.

 



(This is the "smile" Ellie gives me when I point the camera at her.)





The kids had fun trying to find the perfect apple to pick.  It ended up being quite the challenge as there weren't that many left!







Ellie found a little apple that was just her size.

 

She was very proud of it, and very serious about the whole thing. In fact, when we got in the car to leave, she didn't have it. I tried to just give her another one, thinking she wouldn't notice, but she started BAWLING and said, "No! MY apple!" (Luckily I was able to find it for her!)



Of course, I made my kids pose for a few pictures, too. I'm glad I did, because I ended up with a few little gems.







This one is my absolute favorite and will probably end up on my wall somewhere. I just love these little munchkins. :)


We came back from the orchard and the kids had fun playing with some little tractors, a wagon, and the tire swing before we left.

















We were a bit sad not to come home with a bunch of apples, but it was still a fun trip! The kids loved it, which is all that matters. I bought a bunch of apples at the grocery store today so I can still make my apple pie. ;)