motherhood // an apple orchard playdate

sometimes you just need to pack up the kids and get out of town to prance around an orchard and pick some apples with your babies and good friends.  so that's precisely what we did and i cannot think of a better playdate.  this orchard place was one of the most enchanting little pockets of missouri we've ever been to.  it was untamed with apple tree rows that seemed to go on forever.  for those who live in the area, i'd make a trip sooner rather than later.  it is simply gorgeous.

the morning was a misty one and the apples were ever so abundant, falling off of trees and spilling onto a bed of clovers.  stella ran through the maze of trees, picking red ones, blush ones, and green ones.  theodore, comfortable clung to my hip, munched on a pink lady for about an hour, happy as a clam.  i'd plop him in the grass to add some apples to stella's growing bag and he'd sit there, his hands clenched tightly around his apple.  my heart bursted about a hundred times.  

between picking apples, stella collected rocks and got as dusty as she could possibly muster during our time at the orchard.  she picked wild grass, pressed her nose into a few red delicious branches, and never stopped running. our little girl is a tomboy through and through.  despite her quick pace, she reminds me to slow down and savor life's little gems.

in the end, we filled a bag big enough for about five apple pies!  i am already dreaming up a lazy weekday morning when my girl and i can roll out dough and perfect our apple pie recipe. i prefer ones with crumbly brown sugar toppings, so that shall be our first.  and since there is no such thing as too many pies we'll be on a baking kick until those suckers are gone.