Sweet Pickins

Yesterday we went to Cain's Orchard to pick some apples. Grandma Vicki even came along to join in the fun! Some people might choose to just go there and buy the already picked, washed and bagged apples...but not us! We have to hop on the wagon, ride up the hill (which we could easily walk up ourselves, but what fun would that be?), hop off the wagon, get a bag, grab an 'apple picker' thing so we can reach the high-up apples, and head off into the "apple forest" to find the juiciest, sweetest apples. For Emi, even the 'apple picker' thing didn't reach high enough, so being the monkey that she is, she had to try to climb up the trees to get the apples at the very tippy-top of the tree. Even though there is a sign that says "Please do not climb in the apple trees." Even though we told her numerous times to stay out of the trees. Once I heard her in a tree, and called her to come over by me. I heard "Just a minute...scrape, rustle, thwack, ooof! ..... I'm OK!" Yep, she fell out of a tree. I think it hurt a little more than she let on, but I don't think she wanted anyone to tell her "I told you so!"

Then there is the ever graceful Chase, who managed to trip and fall over the apples that were laying on the ground under the trees....a couple sticks....and his own feet. Then, he would have to reenact his fall so we all could see what happened.....in slow motion. What a goofball. I think he ended up eating more apples than he put into the bag. He would find a good one, look it over, rub it on his shirt a little, then take a big bite out of it. I guess they all must have passed his taste inspection. I'm surprised he didn't get a bellyache!

Once in a while, when we were trying to pick an apple from a very loaded branch, a kamikaze apple would let loose and hurl towards whoever was tugging on that branch. The first time I got hit (yes, it happened more than once), the first thing that popped into my head was that scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and the Scarecrow are walking through the forest and try to pick an apple off a tree, and the trees end up throwing apples at them. Maybe I've watched that movie too many times, but I'm not the only one....Not 2 minutes after that, my mom came up to me chuckling and saying how the orchard reminded her of The Wizard of Oz. Now I want to watch it again!

If anyone would like any apples, we have plenty to go around! We had so much fun we got way carried away with the apple picking. There also seemed to be a competition going on between Emi and Chase to see who could find the "best" apple. This might also have comtributed to the (over) abundance of apples we brought home. Oh well...it's so worth having to figure out what to do with them all now-we had a great time!

Apple crisp, apple cake, apples and caramel, apple salad, apple pie, apple crunch, applesauce, apples and porkchops.....now I want to watch Forrest Gump! ;-)