When some of the trees look like this in New England,
we hit the local farm and climb a different kind of tree in search of...
tasty treats that look like this.
We spent 2.5 hours of our Sunday afternoon at Brooksby Farm under sunny skies in the crisp autumn air. For all that time, no one whined or complained about being bored. Instead, the kids ran through the orchard, scampered up tree trunks, hung from branches like monkeys, and did back flips off the limbs with their apples. Dad and Mom stayed mostly on the ground and dutifully filled the bags to bursting with Jonagolds and Cortlands, Granny Smiths and Golden Russets. (We also overlooked the extra few apples consumed by our little daredevils when they thought we weren't looking!)
A couple of my kids told stories of apple picking in Kazakhstan orphanage-kid-style...finding an apple tree and shaking it until a hail of fruit came down on them, then being chased by the owner of said tree when they were caught stealing his fruit. Aniyar remembered the hay ride we took at the apple orchard last year and the cider donuts we shared there. Then Tanya reminded me of the first time we took her apple picking. She was only 6 years old and tired easily; she remembers that we carried her on our backs a lot that day...and she lost a tooth biting into an apple.
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| Can you believe these girls are now 14 and 16? |
The cost for this family bonding activity:
$7.00 per bag for 2 bags of apples picked = $14.00
It's true that I could have bought these same apples from the same farm at my local grocery for:
$4.99 per bag for 2 bags bought within 3 blocks of my house = $9.98
An afternoon together with 5 teens laughing, having fun, sharing and making memories = priceless.
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