My little family of three went apple picking Sunday in Nebraska City with new friends–a mom, dad and their son. Levi and I met her and her little boy in music class and started getting together last month for play dates. Her toddler is a month younger than Levi, but you’d never know it. He already walks and his hands and feet dwarf little Levi’s!
When I mentioned recently that I was hoping to go apple picking sometime this fall, she suggested our families go together to Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard. It just so happens that this weekend was also the Nebraska City Apple Jack Festival, but the crowds and chaos at the orchard only added to our fun. Sunday also happened to be Erev Rosh Hashanah (Rosh Hashanah eve), so it felt apropos to be picking apples, the symbolic fruit of the Jewish New Year.
Since I had never met her husband, and she had never met JB, our afternoon at the apple orchard was sort of like a first date. Luckily, it turned out that we are all compatible! At one point, our husbands, the designated stroller pushers, were so engrossed in conversation that they continued down a dirt road while we stopped to pick some apples.
We all walked, talked and tasted apples for maybe two hours or so before waiting in line for, oh, probably 45 minutes to buy Kimmel Orchard’s much-acclaimed spicy apple donuts. The wait took so long because they simply couldn’t keep up with the demand and were literally making the donuts right then and there, a couple dozen at a time. As soon as we were handed our boxes (they bought three dozen; we bought two dozen), we gobbled up some hot, fresh, melt-in-your-mouth delicious donuts. Oh. My. God. They were so worth the wait!
Besides the best apple donuts we’ve had in ages (or maybe ever), we also discovered that a whole apple (or two) will occupy Levi for several hours. Having only two bottom teeth, he couldn’t exactly eat the apples, but he thoroughly enjoyed gnawing and sucking on them. Note to parents: If you take a child to go apple picking, bring lots of wipes because you will have very sticky fingers afterwards!
All in all, it was a near perfect afternoon, and I’m looking forward to scheduling another outing with our new friends soon.
Gotta love this time of year – I just took Lorelei to an apple orchard for the first time and despite chilly/blustery weather she had the best time. Levi looks like he was loving it, too! And I was too scared to give her an apple for fear of choking but Levi looks like he totally loved his so I am going to try it next time!
Just a heads up: Levi didn’t have top teeth at the time, so he wasn’t really biting into his apples! Just sort of gumming them and getting sticky in the process 🙂