Hello September, my it's nice to see you!
The arrival of this month means so many wonderful things: cooler weather, a brand new school year, college football, fall food and one of our very favorite things of course, the chance to spend the day in the fresh air surrounded by crisp apples.
We ventured to a new orchard with our co-op friends. It was a pretty spot and a much closer drive than last year's destination, however, I think I can say with much certainty that we will not be returning. Ever. Again. As it turned out, the proprietors were super grumpy and less than happy to see our children. As soon as we hopped out of the car, greeted our buddies and cozied up to the picnic tables to have a quick bite before picking, the grouchiest lady marched over to tell us that large groups of people were unwanted in their orchard and we would only be permitted to stay for one hour. WHAAAATTTT????? We just stood there looking at her, waiting for her to start laughing and tell us that she was just joking... What do you mean 3 mothers and their children were not welcome to spend time on your hillside??? We didn't even want to mention the 3 other mothers and their respective children still in transit, eager to join our gathering. Apparently, according to grouchy apple pants, the previous day a large group of families had descended upon the orchard and stayed for 3 hours (3 whole hours in the fresh air, can you imagine??) Well, they allowed their children to run around in the sun and probably even permitted them to laugh loudly. She told us she was sorry but they "ruined it for everyone else", honestly her exact words. I can't remember the last time I experienced something so absurd.
Regardless of our chilly reception, we managed to enjoy ourselves. I believe we actually lingered for about 2 hours and managed to avoid coming face to face with the orchard's bouncer.
We managed to keep our children close and "reined in". I think I actually announced more than once that "running and having fun was not permitted on this hillside".You can imagine the faces of the children, sure that once again mama had lost her mind!
It really ended up being a good time spent with good buddies, but I've got to be honest, I'm really looking forward to our family apple picking trip in two weeks. At least I know we will be welcome when we show up on that beautiful hillside!