Barton Orchards

Our dear friend Eisley had her 5th birthday party at an apple orchard an hour north of the city, and we were so honored to attend. Eisley and T were best buddies when we lived in the Bronx, and we have stayed in close contact with their family even on opposite sides of the country. Now we're in the same state again, but still don't see nearly enough of each other. I just love them and it was such a fun day! 

 

Barton Orchards--it was like a farm and orchard and country theme park and garden all in one. For as long as we are in New York (ha, as if we make plans like that!) going to this orchard will be our new tradition. Because it really was that awesome!

So, mostly I took this picture because that goat was on the other side of the fence and couldn't bite me or my skirt (as petting zoo animals always seem to do). Later, when I saw that that goat had jumped over the fence I felt a little less cozy with my camera.

The birthday girl herself. I still think of her as the little binkie girl running around in a diaper on my back patio. Ahh...I love that 5 year old!

Melissa planned this party perfectly. All of the kids had so much fun and were kept busy for hours on end (the party was from 10 until 12:30, but we ended up staying until 5 pm). This is when they went gem mining in a little water mill.

Everett thought it was fun, until a big kid threatened his spot at the mill--then his game face came on in full force!

There were multiple jump houses and a huge bouncy slide. For the first time in Everett history he went in the jump house, and he even had himself some fun!

I look at this picture and feel like I'm looking at T and Eisley instead of Everett and Sophia. Such sweet babies!

T and Daddy on the train.

At the top of the orchard was a barn with little go carts and games. Oh, you thought those were for the kids? That's funny.

I told Ev that he could pick and eat an apple if he smiled for the camera. These are the two pictures he let me take, the little ham. I guess he earned his apple!

T and Eisley after they did a slide race. Yes, I think I am totally and completely ok with them being friends for life!

Do you see how beautiful it was? I don't think we could have planned for better weather if we tried. Talmage rode his own bike-cart around this huge track multiple times. It was not easy...he's a stud!

And Daddy definitely wins an award for being an awesome Dad! He pushed Everett around that whole track, while carrying all of our belongings in his backpack.

After the fun zone, our little family headed to the orchard to pick a bushel of apples. We picked four different kinds and filled our bag to the tippy top. The boys had more fun than I even thought they would. They were very careful to not pick any with bruises or bites and that were totally ripe. We have a big bag of gorgeous apples in our kitchen right now. Yum!

Oh, the apple orchards were so beautiful. For a few minutes I even thought I wanted to live in the country, which was obviously the apple cider talking because me + country = seriously never. But a visit to the country, and this orchard in particular, now that is just a little slice of heaven for my soul. And fresh fruit from a tree, it almost makes me tear up with gratitude. I really love our world.

Once again, James won the award for being a seriously awesome Daddy. He let the boys climb all over him to get the apples they wanted. And if I wanted to tell you the whole truth and the full truth than I should mention that he might have boosted me for an apple or two as well. Or ten-ish.

 

And then after apples, came the pumpkin patch!

Everett picked out this little beauty and carried it around for a few minutes. He kept calling it his baby and said, "Oh, is so tute!" Then in an act of 2-year-old rage he threw it to the ground and declared, "I don't want anyfing!" He decided he couldn't stand that pumpkin, or any pumpkin...until 4 hours later when he realized that we didn't buy him one. Oh the drama of a 2-year-old on a city bus in Harlem.

Talmage, on the other hand, found the perfect pumpkin all by himself (after checking out just about every pumpkin in the whole field) and carried that thing around like a trophy of his awesomeness. And his independence is pretty awesome sometimes. I really loved watching him think as he looked at all his options, and picked the pumpkin he loved!

Again, it was just a beautiful day.

The day was made only more beautiful by apple cider donuts. They were out of powdered sugar which made me a little sad, but the cinnamon sugar ones were unreal.

As if our car was not full of enough yumminess, we then picked bags of peppers and tomatoes (which were way cheaper than anything we can buy here in the city). Plus, we got to pick them and reminisce about how cool it was when we got to pick fresh veggies from my dad's garden last summer.

Everett was a total goner when we got back in the car, poor kid has been sick since the calendar said it's fall. Getting the car back to the airport (and then us back to our house) was kind of a doozy, but all in all the trip was a total success and completely worth it. Happy birthday Eisley, thanks for letting us come to your party!