Thursday, September 28, 2006
 Yesterday, Noah went on his first field trip with the kindergarten to Bishop's Orchard. It's Johnny Appleseed week, so of course they had to visit an orchard and pick their own apples. Noah was especially thrilled with the bus ride and the "wagon ride" through the orchard. He ate about half of his apple upon his return home and then asked me to cut the rest so he could see the star inside. Then he insisted on picking the seeds out and planting them in our garden, with high hopes of growing his own apple tree. Doesn't he look like he loves that apple almost as much as he loves his dandelions?
I've been wanting to take Denver apple-picking for weeks now. With Noah's field trip this week and Hunter's apple projects going on at school--there couldn't be a more perfect time to go. Unfortunately, I have roughly three doctor's appointments a week nowadays, so between those and picking kids up from school at noon and three o'clock, our time has been very limited. It's hard to find a block of time long enough to travel to and from the farm as well as make it up to the orchard and all the other fun stuff there is to do there. Luckily, this morning when I glanced at the calendar and saw that it was completely open I knew it was now or never. So I abandoned the dishes and my shower and loaded Denver and Caleb into the car and ran for the apple orchard before anything could stop us, like the rain they're predicting for tomorrow.
Anyway, we had a wonderful time and it felt so good to get out of the house for something besides church and doctor's appointments. It was also nice to spend a few hours with Denver and Caleb doing something other than watching TV. Denver picked an entire bag of apples by himself. Today they were picking Autumn Galas which are super-delicious. Denver enjoyed the hayride to the top of the orchard and described it as a "roller coaster ride." Caleb didn't help pick very many apples but he did enjoy digging in the dirt and munching on apples. After we returned from the orchard we hit the shop for some apple cider, pumpkin pie and a few more apples for next week's no-television-involved activities: homemade applesauce and apple pie. Then we wandered over to the petting zoo. Denver was upset this morning when I told him we were going to feed the slobbery animals some food and insisted he would do no such thing. It took about thirty-seconds for him to change his mind. He spent about an hour dancing from slobbery animal to slobbery animal feeding them handfuls of food. Caleb liked the dirt and rocks mostly, but got pretty excited when he saw the chickens. He sprinkled a little cracked corn here and there for the animals but didn't seem too thrilled with their slobbery licking action. Denver heard a donkey bray for the first time ever in real life and just about had a heart attack at first and then practically collapsed in a fit of laughter. It was quite hysterical. I was a little sad to leave the farm and orchard--the fresh air was so sweet and the change of scene so pleasant, but it was time to collect Noah and get back to the dishes and housework. But at least I have the promise of pumpkin pie for dessert tonight and something fun to do with Denver next week when the hum-drum sets in and I need a break from the blah of every day life. Happy Apple Week to all of you!
  
  
 
 
posted by Shana # 1:48 PM 
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