A New Sort of Apple Picking

This weekend we have a special visitor, so we decided to do something fun to take advantage of the extra set of hands. To apple orchard we went, where we "picked" apples with the boys. Sadly, an early warm spell followed by a frost destroyed apple crops across the midwest, so most orchards were closed this year or had no u-pick apples. The one we went to brought in apples and hung them from trees in rain gutters, and declared "it's raining apples!" It was silly, but the kids liked it, and it turned out to be better for them than actually having to pick. Nic was the most enthusiastic about the activity, pointing into the trees and saying, "apple, apple." His bag was much heavier than Tommy's by the time we left. Tommy spent most of his time playing "apple soccer" with the rotten apples that littered the ground, and Kenny, well, he slept. Everyone like the tractor ride through the orchard and the hot apple cider afterwards. I'm guessing they will be equally thrilled with the apple cider donuts we brought home for tomorrow morning...