Apple Picking at Gizdich Ranch

On Saturday Clara and I went apple picking at an orchard about 45 minutes south of us called Gizdich Ranch.  Paul had planned on going with us but had a last minute project come up late Friday afternoon that required him to work late Friday and most of Saturday so it was just me and Clara.  We rode with our friends who live around the corner since her husband couldn't come either.  We laughed because the whole activity had originally been planned so that the dad's could go and then they had stuff come up so really we could have done this any day of the week, but whatever. 

 

I had no idea what it would be like but it turned out to be a great place to take Clara because there were loads of apples right at her eye level for her to pick.  We grabbed a big bucket and wandered through rows of Galas and Newton Pippins looking for just the right fruit.  Clara insisted on being the one to carry the bucket early on when it was still light enough for her to do it on her own.  She approached the whole thing very seriously.

Look at all those Gala apples ready for picking!  After some instruction on how to carefully set the apples into the bucket instead of just chucking them in there, Clara was very gentle with them and she didn't ever try to eat them because she was so intent on filling our bucket.

This was her concentrating face whenever she was trying to pull an apple off the tree.

I have never tried Newton Pippins before but they are supposed to be good baking apples so we got a bunch for making pies and crumbles.

This is Clara's "cheese" face:

One of Clara's catch phrases is to offer me something and say "here you go, mommy!" which is what she was doing in this photo.  Except she doesn't pronounce her "g's" so well so it sounds a little more like "dough" rather than "go".

Tongue sticking out in concentration.

Such a cheeser but I cannot get enough of her little face.  She is such a great little pal and I'm so lucky to do these kinds of fun things with her.

Unfortunately, we were quite a ways away from the nearest port-a-potty when Clara realized that she needed to go and she had been so distracted picking apples that I think she just didn't pay attention to her bladder because she had an accident, which is really unusual for her.  Sadly, I caught the look on her face just as she realized she couldn't hold it.  Fortunately, I brought a spare set of pants and underwear for her because even though she hardly ever has accidents I always like to be prepared when we are any distance from home. 

On our way back out of the orchards to the weighing station where we paid for the apples, Clara wanted to help me carry our bucket since she couldn't do it on her own. 

There were hay bales and an old tractor for the kids to play on.

We bought a half-gallon of fresh pressed apple juice (amazingly good) and a slice of apple pie a la mode (I taught Clara the important phrase "a la mode" this weekend which she pronounces "ah-ma-mode").  The pie was fantastic and Clara scarfed it down with me.  In fact, it was more like me trying to get my fork in whenever I could to get some before Clara ate it all.