Family Time

Sometimes, family time is hard to come by. In a home where both parents work and children want to do their own thing, you have to make family time happen. Such was the case yesterday. I had decided earlier in the week that I REALLY wanted to go to the Happy Apple Farm. It is a local orchard where you can go pick your own apples, as well as other fruits. For the last 7 years or so, I have wanted to go, but hadn't. I was bound and determined that we were gonna go. We needed to get away from the hail damaged house, and just be a family.

Tom's reply to going was "alright, if that's really what you want to do". Laura's reply was "why do we have to go pick apples if we can buy them at the store?" Becca's reply was "I don't want to go." I also suggested that we take Pookie with us, his reply was "I'm not feeling well, go on without me". I guess I should have asked the dogs, they LOVE wide open fields. Penny would have had a blast.

I was determined and ignored everyone's consternation. I just kept thinking "this will be good for them".

We arrived at the farm and a funny thing happened. We joke about how we have lived here long enough, and we have been so involved in the community, that we can rarely go somewhere without seeing someone we know. Such was the case yesterday. We arrived only moments after Laura's fifth grade teacher and his young family. Laura immediately warmed to the idea of being there as she wouldn't want her teacher to see her whine. She also denied that she ever had second thoughts about going.

Becca saw the hayride that transports you out into the fields. She immediately warmed to the idea that "perhaps this could be fun".

Tom spied the bbq/smoker under the pavilion where they smoke meat every weekend and serve it to hungry patrons. Of course, they use apple wood cut from the trees. I thought Tom was gonna kiss the owner when he said he could take some of his apple wood for "free". Actually what he said was "just back you car up and take some".

I just smiled inside. The day was gonna work out alright.

We started with blackberries. They were not so black as they had been much picked over. I decided that red/black berries would suffice for one cobbler (that's all we found enough for), which I will make today.

When I got off the hayride and stepped into the blackberry patch, I was transported back in time. I swear I was in Florida and ten years old again. I remembered picking wild blackberries along the railroad track with my Mom and sister. I remembered Mom's blackberry cobbler. I thought of going to the strawberry fields and eating as many berries as I picked. It's funny, when I was ten, I bet I complained about going to the berry patch. I found myself thinking that this is why I had come. Not just to pick berries, but to create memories with my family. I want them to remember going to the blackberry patch, barely finding berries, but having a great time.
After the berries, we were off to conquer the apples. Actually, Tom and the girls were ahead of me picking apples because they had given up on finding BLACK berries. When I arrived at the apple section, the girls and Tom were hot and thirsty and had already picked a bag All three smiled and told me how sweet the apples were (we were encouraged to sample).You see, I am a Floridian and we don't grow apples there, not like these. The fella driving the hayride swore the Gallas were the sweetest, so that is what we picked. Tom and the girls took the hayride back to the car for water. They left me there in the orchard, and I was in heaven. Looking at those apples, I knew why Adam was tempted. I picked one of the apples, took a bite, and sin or not, it was gooood.I picked two bags of apples while waiting for my family to return on the hayride. I was alone in the orchard and thinking about how I wished my Dad could have been with me. If he ever visits Colorado again, we have to take him there. He has always wanted an orchard and I really wish I could show him this one. So, here are a couple of pictures, just for him.

We finished the day, hot, tired and totally happy. Not ONE complaint about the day. The girls are eager to eat cobbler and I am eager to make it for them. I am toying with the idea of going back on Wednesday, by myself, early in the morning, to pick those red blackberries that will have turned their proper color by then. Is it the berries I am hoping for, or just an extension of this special day? I am so glad that I insisted on going and demanding that "WE ARE GONNA HAVE FUN". Sometimes, a Mom has to do what she has to do.