Apple Picking Adventure!

A couple of Sundays ago, on a very cold, gloomy and rainy Sunday in Cleveland, OH, Donovan and I road-tripped with my niece Aileen and her husband Joe to Toledo, Ohio just about 2 hours away where the weather was gorgeous, Sunny, mid-60s and the skies were perfectly blue!  We went on an apple picking adventure!

There were apple trees everywhere! ....

.... and so plentiful with fruit and delicious too!

I never knew that apple trees were so artistic looking!

I was just enjoying the view.  The trees, the blue skies, delicious fruit and enjoying Mommy and Donovan time!

Donovan thought it was pretty cool that he could pick apples from the tree and take a bite of one and if he didn't like it, just discard it to the ground.  I must admit, I thought it was pretty cool myself to be able to eat an apple right from the tree, just to taste it to see if you like it before adding another to your 1/2 bushel bag!

Donovan giving it all he has to pick a Jonathan apple from  the tree,
he later told his Daddy that apple picking was hard work!

Mommy giving Donovan a little help! 

Happiness is successfully acquiring the apple from the tree!

And giving it a taste test!  Needless to say he only took a bite
and said it was "yucky" - not surprising coming from my child
who doesn't like to eat - in general!

We took this wonderful road-trip with my niece and her husband, who are the best adventurers and who made our trip that much more fun and special!

Aileen & Joe!

Joe conquering the top of the apple tree!

Joe is such a kid at heart, and we love him because of it!

Aileen found a cluster of ripe apples and went
to town picking them!

I've never gone apple picking before, so it was a wonderful adventure for me.  I'm glad I was able to share my adventure with Donovan.  It's not often that we get to do things like this together.  I'm so grateful that Aileen and Joe invited us to join them.  We managed to pick a whole bushel of apples, the 4 for us.

Today I finally dove into my 1/2 bushel bag and made me a homemade gluten free apple pie to share with my family!

Next time we'll have to invite Daddy and Norah to join us.  Norah had an "Artist" party to attend that Sunday, so Daddy and Norah stayed behind to be "artistes" while Donovan and Mommy became apple pickers!