Apple Picking at Lewin Farm 2017

We ran out to apple pick for 30 minutes yesterday, just to have a little tiny bit of normalcy. The kids loved it like crazy, and we now have 11 pounds of apples to eat.

In front of apple orchard

Picking

Stetch

Pull

Success!

Bag it.

Reaching for the high one

Perfect little red

So happy

Cheese balls

Time to check out

Father's Day 2017

Happy Father's Day! We are so lucky to have you! You do so much for our family, you're wise, and super fun! We love you!!

They're still small enough to pick up.

 

Monkeys!

Picking strawberries at Lewin's Farm

Picking strawberries at Lewin's Farm

Showing off our strawberries

Family strawberry selfie

Kind of more expensive than the grocery, but still fun!

Grill-out dinner!

Raspberry and Blueberry Picking 2016

I am so excited we live close to the Riverhead-area farms this summer. I've had strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries on my calendar all year.

First the raspberries!

James and Miranda picking raspberries

Proud of her raspberries that she calls "stwa-berries."

Excited that he got some without breaking them with his massive strength

Next we went for the blueberries and were so relieved how much easier they were to pick that we got twice as many.

James picking blueberries. He loves blueberries!

Miranda is pretty obsessed with them too

Kevin and Miranda

All done!

Gobbling up the washed berries at home

Strawberry Picking at Lewin Farm 2016

Ever since we moved, we live closer to a bunch of farms, so I've been following the progress of all the "u-pick" fruit. At last, strawberry season had arrived! Last Saturday, we went strawberry picking at Lewin Farms. Sometimes these adventures I plan don't go so well (see eg, apple picking) but I was pleasantly surprised! The kids loved strawberry picking and behaved well!

Strawberry joy!

Working hard for the fruit he loves.

Trying not to step on the strawberries

Showing me her haul. She was very picky about taking only "not yucky" ones!

This is just so freaking idyllic. Seriously. 

Bonus fruit from the farm's market!

The best part- eating a ton of strawberries with no restraint!

Things My Wife Complains About #29 Apple Picking

It's fall, which means it's apple picking time! As someone who has long enjoyed apples, what greater pleasure could I take than paying to pick my own dirty, worm-infested apples? I'm so tired of buying clean, tasty apples that someone else picked and washed. I enjoy pork, too, but it's not like I get to slaughter my own pigs in an abbatoir, alongside hundreds of other tired families. Lame!

If you think you're about to read a snarky takedown of picking apples, guess again, because despite traveling to two different orchards, nobody in my family picked a single apple. The first orchard, to be fair, had a lot of rules. First, somebody told my wife she wasn't allowed to bring in her purse. Second, I don't remember: The gatekeepers were just generally weird and scary. So, for some reason, we bought a lot of peaches. Has anyone in our family ever eaten a peach? Possibly. Now we have approximately three hundred of them.

We knew what to expect from the next orchard, namely more not apple picking. This orchard has so many places for children to play, it's a miracle anyone ever picks apples. Here's what we did instead of picking apples: Eat apple donuts (close), drink apple cider (arguably closer), get stuck inside a plastic tube (daughter), shimmy inside the tube to retrieve the child while people gathered worriedly around one open end of said tube (wife), burst into tears after being told it made Mama very sad he said he didn't want to pose for a picture (son), stare expressionless into the distance (me).

Possible solutions!

1) Stop eating fruits and vegetables
2) Start picking less popular produce, such as potatoes
3) Go apple picking again very soon (extremely likely)

Tractor

Tractor

Ship

Ship

Train

Watch out Miranda is driving!

Before the doom

Happy pumpkin

Confused ghost

Pumpkin Patch 2014

Gratuitous pumpkin photos post. There's nothing to say we just went to a nearby pumpkin patch, took some photos and bought a few pumpkins. Maybe if we actually carve one I'll add that picture to the bottom of the post.

My little pumpkins!

Love this one! Thanks Kevin!

Loves of my life

Picking out one to carve

Miranda has never seen so many pumpkins!

Group photo fail! Miri was too distracted by the pumpkin.

• Last year's pumpkin photos at the farm 2013
• Pumpkin photos at the farm in 2012
• Pumpkin photos at the pumpkin patch in 2011

Apple Picking at Windy Acres 2014

I've been wanting to go apple-picking for a little while now, and James is actually totally obsessed with apples so it seemed like a good time to go. The only problem was that all the apple-picking farms are about an hour away from us, and Miranda hates being in the car even for short stretches. Thankfully, my mother babysat the little one for us so we could take James on a solo adventure. We chose Windy Acres Farm somewhat arbitrarily but it was awesome. They had a big selection of apples and a huge amazing playground for the kids.

James picks some good apples!

It's my first time apple-picking too!

Checking out how many apples are in the bag

He's thinking about eating it instead of putting it in the bag

Wagon ride

No, really, the playground was amazing. We've been to our share of playgrounds up and down the East Coast and this was something! They had ton of wooden creations for the kids to play and pretend. What an awesome daytrip!

Windy Acres Playground

Wooden tractor with slide

Wooden train with dining cart

Making train noises! So cute!

Have fun storming the castle!

Farm tractor

Crawling through some pipes

Ghosts!

Call me Ishmael!

Porthole ADORABLENESS!!!