Apple picking,

A few weeks ago, Paola and I took the kids to Ellijay for an apple picking adventure. Stephanie and I went last year and had so much fun, I wanted to go again. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get a day for that worked for the Rader boys and the Ward boys to get together, so with just two days left until my Groupon expired, Paola and Andrea got the glory of picking apples with us!

I'm just kidding - although, I do have so say it was one of the best days we've had with our best friends in quite a while.

We laughed a lot. Starting with the drive there. I used MapQuest, which sent me the very scenic route. Yes, it was a beautiful way to spend a late Fall morning. However, it was also a very long, slow way to spend a Fall morning.



Once we finally arrived, there was so much to do, we couldn't decide where to start. All I could think about were apple cider donuts. Lane and Andrea wanted to run. Evan was up for anything. Paola decided we should start at the apple gun.


I finally got to see what it looks like when the big guy hangs out on my back.

After waiting in line forever, we finally got our turn at the gun. We had two tickets for the apple gun and on our way in a couple gave us two more tickets. That meant we had four baskets - or 40 apples to shoot.







We all took turns shooting the apples out as far as we could get them to go. No method to our madness like some of the other folks. We just liked to push the button and watch them fly.

I would love to know what people think when we are out and about. We crack ourselves up. I'm sure other people probably think we are like a pack of wild banshees.

Who cares? We have fun.


Oh, and this kid is cute.

The farm we went to was the perfect place for photos. So, we took a bunch of them.




Then, we made our way to the petting zoo. There, we asked the Hispanic man working the gate what kind of animals they had.

"Goats and little dogs," he told us.

Elizabeth, you should like this.

My reply was, "Goats and little dogs? I can drive to my brother's house to see goats and little dogs. And, I can hang out there for free!"


Lucky for us, he was wrong. There were a lot of goats - and some turkeys hanging around outside. But, there was a barn filled with animals: little dogs, a little cow, some baby pigs, a few chickens and some kind of bird that was a mix between a duck and a chicken. I kept calling it a Chuck - but I don't think that is it's scientific name!

Eventually, we found our way to the store, where we bought way too many goodies and a few pumpkins.

Then, we took advantage of the last part of the Groupon offer: a hayride. Really, this was a for real hayride.

A tractor full of hay literally drove us around a big field for 20 minutes.

At the end of the day, we were all tired, cold and ready to go home - but I think we've decided we will be doing this for as long as we can convince the kids to go. Maybe even longer.




Oh, and I took the short way home!