Apple Picking

About this time last month, Jillian and I took Megan 'apple picking.' It's a bit of a misnomer because we didn't actually pick ANY apples although we did sample several delicious varieties they had to offer. Every town has THE place people go to when they want to experience life on the farm type of activities, and here in our town, it's called Robinettes.


Jillian is a sucker for all things fall related, so she goes bonkers over these types of trips. In all honesty, I much preferred the place we went to in Cincinnati and St. Louis over this particular orchard, but it still met most of our needs. Outside of buying their apples and taking a horse ride, there wasn't really much else to do, their pumpkin stock was limited, and there were barely any gourds. I guess I had become a bit of an 'apple picking place snob' you could say.


But Megan, she was clueless to what he did/didn't have. Although I think for her the highlight of the trip was staring at a dog that was left in the bed of a pickup truck in the parking lot. Simple pleasures I suppose.

We did corral Megan away from the dog for enough time to create some magical moments though. For instance, we washed fresh apple juice get made/squeezed. Sort of weird to stand there and watch apple mash come shooting through a tube, be pressed, and the juice shot into gallon jugs for sale. In this era of processed this and refined sugars that, is it really that simple sometimes? How quaint.

Of course we sampled the local cuisine. There were apple cinnamon doughnuts to eat, and the aforementioned fresh squeezed apple juice to drink. Megan opted for a hit of diet coke to wash her doughnut down, but hey, whatever works.

After our snack, we took turns on the porch swing just watching the time pass by until it was time for our horse carriage ride. Megan loved being in the chair because she felt like a 'big girl' and I think because she thought she was the one making it swing back and forth despite her legs barely reaching the edge of the seat.

The horse carriage ride was actually a bit of a downer. It was a there-and-back trek along the side of the orchard and the parking lot. There wasn't a whole lot to see or witness with the exception of two hundred-year-old apple trees, which were, quite impressive to see. I wasn't sure how Megan was going to handle the horses and the ride, but she did fine hanging out in Jillian's lap. After it was over I took her to the horse and she got close to putting her hand on the horse's nose, but she couldn't quite generate the courage to commit to it fully. Maybe next time.

This was quite a different experience from last year. Not only is she more mobile now obviously, but you can definitely see the absence of a lot of her baby chunk, primarily in her face. Her facial features have become much more defined and she is just an adorable little girl to stare at.