Tanner's Apple Orchard

Saturday had the makings of being a pretty crappy day. Paul had plans to work on the shed all day and I had no plans. Plus none of the kids are feeling super great and Schaeffer was especially irritable all morning. Then my mom called and suggested going to Tanner's Apple Orchard. It was supposed to be a beautiful day and my parents had no plans either. I'm so glad I agreed to skip naps and go out for a fun afternoon. We left Paul at home so he could spend some uninterrupted time with his shed. Despite the cranky dispositions we had at home all the kids had a great time and did a great job the whole time we were gone. Though it was definitely a great thing we had a 1 to 1 ratio of adults to kids. At least for me, that made the afternoon much less stressful than it could have been. Here are some of the highlights:

-Giant pumpkins. They had an area filled with over-sized, massive pumpkins. The kids loved them. Jack especially thought it was really cool that he could walk on them and pretend they were a pumpkin balance beam. He made sure to point out that Papa was too big to walk on pumpkins though. I liked the big pumpkins so much I bought one to put on our porch. It took my mom, myself and another lady to hoist the thing into my wheelbarrow and it took Paul to hoist it from the van to the porch. Hmmm...That just didn't seem right, but whatever.

-One of the highlights for Jack was this caboose. He loves trains and it took a lot of convincing to move on to another activity. He just went up and down the stairs and in and out and all around checking out this real train. Only according to him it wasn't a train (trains are only the engines) it was a load. He told mom and I all about the different parts. His passion for it was adorable and he took it all very seriously as he pointed out the real tracks, wheels and hitch. 

-Tanner's has a whole section full of activities for kids and families. What I really liked was that you just paid one fee to get in and then everything inside was unlimited. We spent most of our time playing. The favorites of course were the caboose, the hay bale maze, the wooden train, the peddle tractors and the CAT tractor. It was a very fun and dirty time made even better by the beautiful weather.

Papa and Grandma hanging with the twins while Jack and I jumped from hay bale to hay bale.

In my mind I thought this would be a really cute picture-all the boys on the cool CAT tractor. But who am I kidding these three couldn't all smile and look at the camera at the same time if we stood there and tried all day.

This train was just the right size for Schaeffer and Logan to crawl all over.

Logan LOVES anything with wheels that he can push around.

-Another fun thing was riding on the covered wagon out into the fields. Jack and I did this by ourselves and we had a lot of fun. He decided he wanted to pick a pumpkin instead of picking apples. And he took this task very seriously as well. Once we got in that field he was on a mission and lead me on a wild goose chase to find the perfect pumpkin. I suggested several and was immediately shot down as though he had something very specific in mind (though what, I really don't know). My favorite excuse of his was that a particular pumpkin wouldn't do because it was too dirty. Finally, I found this cute little pumpkin that was just Jack's size. 

While we waited for the wagon to pick us up from the pumpkin field Jack decided he did want an apple after all. So we walked over to a nearby apple tree and I let him pick one and eat it on the ride back. 

Thanks for a great time Mom and Dad!

When we got home that evening around 6:15 or so I was so proud of myself for having thought ahead and having dinner in the crock pot. But as our day had been going at home before Tanner's, so it continued once we were back. I overcooked the chicken. Put it on high for 8 hours instead of low for 8 hours. Dinner was a dry, brittle, disgusting mess and the kids resumed their cranky dispositions almost immediately upon entering the house. Made me even more thankful for the afternoon out and that the kids were so good while we were gone.