Get Me to Gizdich!

I've had it with the weather.  Do you hear me weather gods?  No more will I be cold in the morning and hot by noon.  Darn it to heck and by willy wonkers...No more!  No more teasing me into awakedness with crisp air only to laugh in my face when I'm sweating hours later.  Oh jeans and sweatshirts, we will be together again soon.  No more, I say!  So last Friday I took matters into my own hands.  I'm a mom after all.  And moms possess a power unlike any other.  That's right.

I was going to officially declare it Autumn Weather Time.

Callie had a day off school. I decided to take advantage of that free time and off we went sans Sammy (a post of this is forthcoming because the thoughts of doing family activities without Sammy has been on my mind for years...and I think I've come to a conclusion) and headed to Watsonville!

"Callie.  Do you want to go apple picking?!"

She couldn't contain her excitement and handled the ridiculously long drive with ease.

I didn't realize how far we would actually be driving since for whatever reason I was thinking Gizdich was in Morgan Hill.  WRONG.  Watsonville.  It's over the mountains.  The weather got suddenly cooler as we approached.  We got there shortly after they opened.  There was sharp crispness to the air, but it wasn't too bad.  And we had the entire orchard to ourselves.  It. was. amazing.  Callie kept saying, "This is so fun!"  She asked if we could come back for her birthday, and I had to sadly inform her that apple picking season is usually over by January. But she came up with a new idea...we're taking Grandma and Grandpa when they come and visit in April...berry picking perhaps?

 Gizdich.  The Mecca of Pick Yourself fruits

 mmmm

 We parked the car at the main barn and walked the 1/4 mile to the orchard with a wheelbarrow and buckets.  Callie was pretty thrilled to be in charge of the small bucket.

 apples, apples, and more apples

 Micah did not appreciate being restrained to his stroller, but I'll be honest.  He's been a little rascal lately and I didn't trust him.  Even though we had the place to ourselves, I wasn't totally keen on the idea of chasing him around.

 But, I decided to let him out.  And he was happy for it.
I did chase him through the orchard.

 Callie guided Micah so lovingly.  I was so proud of her. She showed him how to pick apples without making them all fall to the ground. She tried anyway.  And showed him to how softly place the apples into the bucket. Some of the best parts of the day was just seeing them apple pick together.

We picked Galas and Pippins. I don't think I've ever had a Pippin, so we got a few just to try them out.

 Here we see a display of the classic game: Apple Throwing. The apples that were rotting on the ground I let them pick up and throw. I know. Maybe not totally classy, but we were the only ones there and it was fun to see how far they rolled down. It brought immeasurable joy.

 This could be my favorite picture of the day.

There's something to simple about it. The day was fun. Relaxed. Apple-icious. It was nearly perfect.

 muhawahaha

 Next game up is Apple Bowling.

Yes, with plentiful apples around that ants were crawling all over, I let them bowl. Unfortunately the orchard didn't have bowling pins available, so they just bowled between my feet.

 I was sad that we couldn't pick any Honey Crisp...my fave. But we brought home a TON of Galas!!!

 And we got a bit dusty...or dirty...however you want to look at it.

 We were on a Mommy's Day Out, so heck ye-ah we were going to slam down some homemade apple pie from the apple orchard. The 3 of us shared in this splendor. mmm

I'm not saying I did it all, but the weather has been more enjoyable since we went apple picking and declared it officially the end of summer...like, for real the end of summer. It even rained yesterday. Was it me? Was it these 2 cute kids and their smiling faces? You be the judge, but I don't believe in coincidences.

Seriously though, it was such a fun morning. By the time we left, people were just getting there. It was getting hot and we had out bucket full of beautiful apples. On the way home we drank homemade apple juice and ate delicious apples. I really think it was what we needed...just some time together.

I think we'll be singing "Get Me To Gizdich" again and again.