Apple Picking...or something similar to that

A couple of weekends ago we thought it would be a fun idea to take the kids to pick apples. I had mentioned the idea to Mike over dinner one night as a possibility but when Katey heard about it there was only reality in her mind! She was so excited to FINALLY get to pick apples that we knew we had to make it work out.

As most things in life, this trip didn't work out quite like we had envisioned. We have friends that head to Hendersonville, NC each year to pick apples. They say it is so much fun and there are lots of things to do. So, we thought we would make the 2 hour drive for our fun adventure. Then we saw the weather forecast and opted to head to York, SC which is only a 1 hour drive. The website for this orchard said they had a bumper crop this year and, way more importantly, they have the best apple cider donuts and apple cider around. We were sold! I called that morning to make sure they were open and off we went. Here were our surprises for the trip:

1. There were chickens at the orchard and the kids had a grand time feeding them some corn (thanks, Grammy, for the quarter to buy corn!).
2. We walked up to see how this works and were told that this was probably the last weekend the orchard would be open because the trees were almost bare. Grand...they didn't mention THAT part on the phone when I called.
3. We were sent out to pick apples with only our bags to carry them in. Almost all the apples left were WAAAAAYYYY up at the tops of the trees and it was posted that we should not climb in the trees. ???
4. A nice group was on their way back in and handed us a pole with a picking basket on it and pointed us towards some trees that still had apples. Thank you, nice group!
5. Many of the apples that were left in the trees were rotten.
6. Rotten apples attract bees.
7. Mike is strong and can hold Jen on his shoulders for quite awhile. The apple at the top of the tree was stronger and refused to be picked.
8. Sitting on Mike's shoulders is scary and I don't like heights as much as I used to...or maybe it is the feeling of wobbliness while sitting on shoulders that I don't like.
9. Katey loved picking apples and Seth was okay with it, too.

And, the hardest discovery of all: THERE WERE NO DONUTS OR APPLE CIDER!!!!

We all had fun despite the down-sides to the trip. Though, if we do this again next year we will most definitely travel the extra miles to Hendersonville!

Katey was better at being on Daddy's shoulders than Mommy was!