I’m so happy we didn’t cancel this morning plans to go apple picking at Oriole Springs Orchard. There was much debate about the weather forecast. The website also made it seem like the pickings would not be great. In the end, neither concern was a problem.

Adam’s family has been going apple picking at the orchard for a long time and in the past few years we’ve been added more and more friends to come on our annual apple pilgrimage. This year the Camerons, Pasquiers, and Weinrebs joined us.

With Bubbie’s help, Ben showed great aptitude toward apple picking. Jack thought the orchard was a chance to run and play chasing games with his buddies. The twins, as usual, were as easy going as ever. Adam and I just strapped one on us each and they easily went with the flow.

Later on we hit the Harvest Time barn.

We bought a dozen donuts, brats, hot dogs, and more. I was surprised to find only ONE donut left in my box at the end of the day. My goodness, when the twins start tucking into food it’s going to be crazy the kind of volume we’ll go through.

After that pretty unhealthy lunch (Well, I guess it’s wasn’t totally unhealthy since we all helped ourselves to so many apples fresh from the trees beforehand that I’m sure we’ll all have runny tummies tonight. At one point Ben was eating three at once.) the kids ran and played in the open space.

There was a place to feed goats and pigs, a swing set, bales of hay to play in, and a little hill that the older kids decided would be a great place to pretend they were ‘Angry Birds’. They took turns being ‘the pig’ and rolled into each other and down the hill.

Jack got his first bee sting and he reacted like a champ. A bit of crying and then it was over. He’s pretty tough for a 5 year old. Or any age for that matter.

The Gang minus Sam, who was napping at the time.