Who wants to go apple picking?

The homeschool group we had been meeting with in Richmond was going apple picking at Carter Mountain Orchard. I thought this was a WONDERFUL idea and just knew we would have SO much fun. (Yeah, I didn't think it through all the way) I decided I would ask my step-mom to join us and she said yes. The kids were super excited grandma was going to come with and could not wait. The group was going to have a picnic lunch before we went to pick apples so we decided we would find somewhere to grab some food on the way there. Well, we didn't pass anything. We decided we would just pick apples and grab lunch after. We looked around for our friends but they were all running late. We spent some time looking around at the scenery. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL there. We all loved the view we had from being on the side of a mountain.

The boys were excited to go pick apples so we went ahead and got started. My back had been hurting me for the last week or so so I decided to put Princess in her stroller instead of a baby carrier. BIG MISTAKE! I knew it we were on a mountain, however I failed to make the connection that the orchard would be ON THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN! Pushing a stroller on the side of a mountain DOES NOT WORK! Going down is hard because you have to make sure baby does not go down without you, going up is torture just as hard. Oh, did I mention that all the isles you walk down to find the apples were sloped downhill and uneven? Yeah, that made it so much more fun! I was very grateful my step-mom had come. She stayed at the top of the mountain since her knees would not allow her to climb up and down the mountain. I was jealous bummer she could not join us. It came in handy though as the boys would go wait with her when they were tired of acting like mountain goats. It turns out we were there at the end of the season so we had to hike WAY down the isles to find any apples. The boys only ended up getting a few apples each and then they were done. I was ready to go to and I made my way back up pushing Princess.

I had not had an asthma attack in months and let me tell you, I think they had all been saving themselves for this one day! I may have used my steroid inhaler one to many times. By the time we went to pay I was shaking just a bit. We went ahead and bought our apples, some doughnuts, and other food items they had and started to the car. we got to the car and MY KEY WERE MISSING! Yeah my keys were poof gone, somewhere on the side of a mountain! I figured they must have fallen out at one point when I had Princess sideways at weird angles in the stroller. The Boy and I went to ask at the registers to see if anyone had turned them in. When we got up there I found our friends who were finally there ready to go get apples. I asked them to keep an eye out for my keys and I went to find someone to help. One of the girls was about to go find a worker to help us comb the mountain when another cashier asked what she was looking for and the girl said my keys. The cashier had them! I was so excited I hugged the girl and told her she was my new best friend and I meant it! We were over 2 hrs from home so getting The Hubby to bring the other key would have NOT been fun. When we all got in the car we decided that we would consider going apple picking again early in the season when the close trees still have apples, and hopefully find somewhere NOT on the side of the mountain. Overall the general consensus was that we were glad we went even with everything that happened. It was not what we were all expecting but it worked out nicely in the end. We ended up grabbing some lunch at Mc Donalds and I was VERY glad that I had brought my oils with me. I had just gotten my ER order in and so I threw Cat Boy's oils in my bag and also added in my Deep Replif. I had been using it to help with my back pain. When we got back in the car I put some on my back and my neck. I always get a sore nexk when I drive. I also handed it over for my step-mom to use on her knees which were bothering her from the walking she did do. We both enjoyed the soothing relief it gave us. I just love my Young Living oils! Click here for more info

When we pulled in back home we found this little guy trying to steal The Hubby's bike! You just can't trust anyone these days!