Hi everyone! Please meet my newest writer – Aimee! She was one of my close friends in college and we stayed in touch (thank you Facebook.) Now she has an adorable little 18 month old girl she calls Peanut and she will be sharing food/crafts/DIY posts here. I am so excited!
I really enjoyed this post from Aimee. Today she shares about a sweet little family-friendly activity for everyone near Kansas City. Her story makes me want to visit, and I might! Do you have a place like this you take your family to?
I love fall. The crisp, dry air, the smell of smoke from campfires, the colors, the produce, the complete sensory experience of it all fills me with happiness I hadn’t known since spring.
Monday had all the makings of a perfect fall day, but it was bittersweet for our family. Peanut and I had to drop my husband off at the airport for his week-long training in Boston (super jealous btw. I LOVE the east coast). After saying our farewells, I decided that instead of hitting the highway and heading for home to miss Hubs, I’d take a little detour and take the peanut apple picking. Its something I’d always wanted to do, so luckily through a little research I already knew there was a you-pick orchard about fifteen minutes away from the airport.
Peanut and I hit the backroads driving through hilly forested country side on a narrow two lane road. It was fabulous getting out of the ‘city’ and in no time at all, we’d arrived.
Alldredge Orchards is a family owned and operated you-pick orchard, and they have family oriented attractions to spice up the experience. In addition to the apple orchard, the farm offers a you-pick pumpkin patch, play ground and a small petting zoo. Peanut immediately noticed the petting zoo and had to pet the pony and goats. She tried to pet one of the many fluffy orange chickens pecking around, but they weren’t too interested in the 18 month old running around, arm outstretched yelling “chicky, chicky!!!”
In an effort to give the animals a break, I herded my wild child into the century-old barn hoping she would find something to keep her mind busy. I had no idea I would find a busy bunch of bees! Not to worry, they were kept safely behind plexiglass so that you can watch the bees at work. There was a small tube leading from the hive out of the barn to keep everyone safe. We must have watched the bees for ten minutes before Peanut decided it was time to move on.
We finished our cruise through the barn store, selected some purchases (they take VISA and Mastercard plastics) and chatted with the lady running the store. It turned out, the farm wasn’t actually open to the public that day. They had a school group on the premissis. Everyone must have driven their own kids there, because I didn’t see a bus and the group wasn’t very groupy, but the lady was very kind and told us the actual hours of operation are 10-5 Saturday and Sunday.
She was happy to tell us about apple picking procedures. They are going to open a new section of the orchard for the weekend so my kiddo will actually be able to reach apples on her own. The shop lady let us go ahead and buy the items we had selected and cheerily asked us back again. I plan to visit again on Saturday to get the apple picking experience in. I think my lil girl with her love of “appies” will truly enjoy the outing.
Nice to meet you Aimee. I love your profile picture, 2 cuties 🙂 I also love fall, the smells and weather, mmm mmm mmm. We just had pictures taken of my 3 boys and our one of our family and I brought 12 gourds, 5 pumpkins, 2 bails of hay and a TON of fake leaves, The turned out great. LOVE LOVE Fall!
We went there to pick apples in August. Loved it!
How fun. We always say we will do things like this be we never do.