McKinstry Moments: Peach Pickin'

Last summer we stopped at a local orchard to pick some blueberries and ended up taking home a bag of peaches as well. Dave thought they were some of the best peaches he'd ever had, and after that the grocery store ones just never hit the spot. I tried going back to the same place this year but was disappointed to find they didn't have any this time. As I began my search for another option, I remembered our apple picking/pumpkin patch adventure with Natalia and Max a couple years ago to Marker Miller Orchard and checked out their website to see what fruit they had in season. Sure enough, they had a peach orchard that was ready and calling our name.

The Saturday before we left for Illinois, Dave decided to go in to work in order to build up some extra hours to make up for the ones we'd be burning. Since we didn't have anything else to do and I had been wanted to take the kids to get a few peaches anyway, I talked my mom into going to Winchester with me.

The weather was pretty cool that morning and the forecast predicted rain later in the day, but we decided to try it anyway. Sadly, just about the time we arrived those sprinkles that had been falling here and there earlier turned into real rain. Since it was close to lunch time anyway we stopped at a restaurant, hoping it would clear up soon and we could still pick some peaches.

When the rain didn't let up though, we went to Plan B - Toys R Us! My kids hadn't been since before Christmas I believe, so this was a good entertainment idea on my mom's part. The only problem was that Caleb and Hadley were so excited they didn't quite know how to act. Do you remember that game show from years ago when the contestants had to race to fill their grocery carts and get the register? That's pretty much how the scene unfolded that day. Both of them ran for the toys, yanking them from the shelf. Caleb just began throwing one thing after another in the cart. As I hurriedly tried to empty the items and replace them on the shelf as quickly as he was putting them in, I kept explaining that we couldn't just get all the things that we wanted. I am sure if anyone was watching us they would have thought I'd never let these two hooligans out in public before!

After I somewhat got them understand that they couldn't just pile things in the cart, things went a little smoother. They tried out all kinds of toys throughout the store and loved every minute of it until we'd have to pull them away to check out what was in the next section.

Thanks to NaNa, they both ended up with one small special treat to take home as a souvenir. Caleb chose a cement truck, and Hadley took home a Bubble Guppy that fit perfectly in her petite hands. Testing out all those toys made for two tired kids though; they were asleep in no time!

Mom and I stopped at the orchard on the way home and picked up some fresh produce from their market while the kids slept, but we never got to do any actual picking. Since I was still wanted Caleb and Hadley to get the experience of picking their own fruit, I talked Dave into stopping by Marker Miller Orchards again this past Saturday when we needed to be in Winchester anyway to shop for a few things.

We started with a snack.

The kids wanted to hit the playground first so we obliged. After playing for a while, we bought a few things from their concession stand and stopped for a quick lunch. Though there weren't a lot of food options, it was reasonably priced and we were glad that we didn't have to leave in the middle of our visit to go somewhere else for grub since the kids can't hold out too long past their normal lunch times. Looking at that playground equipment made them quite eager to finish their lunches quickly as you might imagine, so we let them run around a little more after eating before we moved on to a new activity. The weather was so perfect for this time of year that Dave and I were content to just sit there and watch them play to their hearts' content anyway. Unlike the normal heat, it felt more like a beautiful early fall day. All of us savored being outside as a result and hated to have to move on to any of the other tasks we had to accomplish that day.

When it finally came time to pull the kids from the playground though, Caleb, who'd previously been very excited about picking peaches, decided that he wanted to pick apples instead. Since he was so adamant about it (and since I don't like peaches anyway), we went with the flow and hit the apple orchard instead. Neither little person needed much instruction; both went busily to work with enthusiasm that you can see on their faces in the pictures below.

Quite a few apples tumbled to the ground in the process of collecting our half a peck. We usually just scooped up what they dropped and took them home anyway. (To tell the truth, it probably was a good thing we weren't dealing with fruit as delicate as peaches!) Once we were finished picking, Hadley clung to one of hers - so proud that we let her have it to carry around. Caleb, on the other hand, tried to sink his teeth into one he found. After I stopped him, warning that it needed to be washed first, he brought it over to Dave, stating matter-of-factly that this one had a bite mark in it, failing to provide the whole story of how those teeth prints got there. Even after we got back to the car, he kept asking us if we could eat the apples now. Cutie pies!