A Trip to The Orchard...

On Tuesday a.m, Paul came home and suggested that we go to pick some fruit at an orchard. I rushed to the computer to find a local orchard that would be fun for the kiddos and us as well. I found one about 40 min. away that had been featured in Southern Living Magazine, called Levening Orchards. Paul punched it in the GPS and we were off. About 20 min. later, we arrived in Ararat. The Orchard was supposed to be in Ararat, VA...but arriving at the local post office, I was informed that we were in Ararat, NC..not Ararat, VA. I felt like quite an idiot. So, we hopped in the car, re-entered Ararat, VA in the GPS (that's ok Paul...you're not entirely to blame..I should have checked behind you). We arrived about 1 1/2 hrs. later. :( We had several difficulties finding it..but we made it! The road that we came in on was extremely bumpy, curvy, and full of holes. We only have a 2wd vehicle so it was tough navigating around those roads. We got stuck a couple of times...and slid a time or two down the gravel. It was very stressful. Gracie was in the backseat about to have a nervous breakdown..and that of course added to my stress. Ugh..it was quite an adventure. We finally pulled over and got out to pick some cherries. Paul did all of the climbing. The ladders were set up around each tree, and it looked so neat. I took a few pictures of it all. Gracie complained from the get-go. She was too hot..or it was too steep, too many bugs, too many pictures, etc. We heard the complaints from the time we got there until we left. I thought it would be a fun adventure for her...but she is definitely not made for labor in the hot sun! It definitely made us appreciate the cherry picking process quite a bit more..and we can understand the high cherry prices. It is quite a bit of work! Paul picked for about an hour or so...and well...you can see how full our bucket was. :)

I realize that I posted this picture 2 times...but I can't figure out how to delete it! :( So, press on...

Her daddy carrying her, because it was "too hot".

Testing a cherry...the man that helped out said that we could have as many as we wanted...I thought that was nice of him. :)

Jai enjoying his cherry.

Trying to help out and climb a ladder like daddy

Handsome <3

Gracie clinging for dear life. She was terrified to go up on the ladder. I think this was only 3 or 4 steps up..haha

Eeek! Paul was so far up at times...I was a nervous wreck!

I forced her to smile.

Crazy boy!

This was her pouting!

This was our pick of the day! $7 damage. I thought that they would give us a deal since we did all of the work. Guess I was wrong.

These were some cooking apples that were in season. I don't really cook with apples..so we left them where they were.

Making the trek back to the car

The view was so beautiful! Sometimes I think it would be nice to live out in the country...sometimes. :)