The Orchard

Just the words Apple Orchard make my mouth water. 

We went to Kuiper's Farm a few weekends ago when the weather felt more like summer than fall. We want to do a few seasonal things with the kids this year since it's so much easier to get out and do fun things together as a family! So the Orchard was first on the list, and we had to knock it off quickly because we want to head right back and visit their pumpkin patch in early October, then maybe head back again and pick out our Christmas Tree sometime in November?!

Getting there was interesting. The kids were all tired, since we chose to go in the afternoon. And Robbie did the whole "Are we there yet?" routine about five minutes into the 45 minute trip. 

I think this picture speaks for itself.

Car potty!

Upon entering the orchard via tractor and trailer, we were told that 40% of the orchard's fruit was damaged (or didn't grow?) by the lack of rain and irregular temperatures this spring and summer. They had harvested some of the apples that grew ahead of season, and had them in bins in the orchard so that apples were available to everyone who came. Thoughtful, practical and most likely very necessary for business, but who is content to pick an apple out of a bin when you've driven 45 minutes to pull it off a tree?! Not me. We went to the last row and found lots of great apples to pick off the trees. I actually love that some of them are half the size of regular apples - the little ones are perfect for my kids' little hands and smaller appetites at snack time! 

Trying to get a picture with the kids...

I am grossly outnumbered, and therefore cannot get a good picture of everyone for the life of me.

Oh well, they're still cute and this is much more representative of life now anyways. I'll take it!

I am feeling a little betrayed by Maddie - she totally looks more like a "Livingston" than an "Armbruster" in this last picture! The only child I feel like really looks like me, and she's turning on me for her father's side of the family. 

It's a good thing those Livingstons are a handsome bunch. :)