"Apple Picking"

A few weeks ago Autumn and I piled into the car with my mom, sister, and her 3 boys. We were headed for West Virginia to a farm near Martinsburg to buy big bags of apples and then head to an apple picking farm that was supposed to have a hay ride and games for the kids.

The trip started out well enough, but it took almost over an hour and a half to finally make our way to the farm. Turns out the apple orchard was 45 minutes back in the other direction. So, after 3 hours in the car we finally made it to the apple orchard. We found a place to park, hopped out of the car and went hunting for apples. Instead, we came upon a huge bee keeping station in the middle of the orchard. When we attempted to pick apples, most of them were gone, on the floor, or really gross. We'd just paid half the price for already picked apples that were gorgeous, bigger and delicious. The biggest bummer was that there were big signs that said "No climbing" into the trees which is kind of what we'd been talking up to the boys all day...

We picked a few for good measure, but eventually ditched our bag and headed to the "pumpkin patch". I'm pretty sure this is where pumpkins went to die. It was a sad looking patch and it was crazy expensive! Instead we took Autumn for a ride or two in the wagons and called it good. We decided this farm was a bust. With that, we decided we were all starving and we just wanted to head home. The "hay ride" was a glorified circular tractor pull around an empty field and you had to pay to do the corn maze - $9 each!

It took a while to find food because we were so far out and when we did, it was challenging to find one the kids were all in agreement with. We decided on Chic-fil-A, but then we saw Chipotle across the street. We did half and half, and met on the outdoor patio. Chipotle had never tasted so good, as I don't remember having eaten much of anything the whole day.

It ended up being at least another 45 minutes home. We made the best of it, just like we had the whole day. We just laughed, joked, and towards the end we all got a little punchy like "What else could go wrong?" Despite leaving at 1 and not getting home until after 7, spending most of the day in the car, it was a great day with the family.

Funny Story: On the way up to the farm in West Virginia for apples, my sister needed to use the restroom so we stopped at a McDonalds on the way, one of the only places for a long while. We pull into the parking lot to drop my sister off and Autumn says, "Fries?" We all laughed - she just kept asking so sweetly and innocently. When my sister got back into the car my mom asked, "So, did you get her some fries?" Jodi looked back at Autumn who again, so sweetly and innocently asked, "Fries?"