Pickin’ peaches

One of Emily’s super summer fun item was to pick peaches. I thought we would have to go to Eckerts to get this accomplished. I was pleasantly surprised when my playgroup had an event at a local farm where we could…drum roll….pick peaches! Who knew! I knew you could pick apples there in the fall but I wasn’t aware that they had peaches as well. Yay!

It’s a cute little farm on the edge of town. You keep driving and driving, thinking you have missed it but there it is. A little house and a little farm. They have a produce stand to sell their yummy pickings and a little greenhouse that they have toys for the kids to play with in the fall. New this year is the castle play equipment. It has swings, a slide and lots of fun. I think Zachary would have been content to play in there all day.

The very nice farmer squeezed, a very tight squeeze, all the mommas and kiddos in the back of a wagon and took us on a little “tour” of the farm. He showed us okra, tomatoes, peppers, apples, and more. Each kid got a little basket to fill with yummy peaches. Emily was quite the picky picker. She only wanted the best peaches off of the tree. So it took us a bit to fill up basket. I had to explain to her that every peach has “imperfections” and doesn’t look like the play kitchen food at home. Zachary thought it was cool that he could run up and down the rows of trees. He wasn’t really thrilled when he got squashed rotten peaches through the holes in his crocs. Gross.

After a ride back to the front, and a look at the apple trees, the kids played for a little more. Zachary got yet another lesson of why not to walk in front of a swing. He is a magnet for those things. Luckily, he fought the gravel and won this time. One of these times, knock on wood, he might not be so lucky. Poor kid. You think he would learn, as he does this all the time at home.  Maybe he’s trying to see how much air time he can get.

After getting him cleaned up, the kids and I picked some heirloom tomatoes. Yummy, juicy tomatoes. Unfortunately, our tomato plant at home didn’t survive long. We got some yummy goodness off of it but the hot summer just did it in. Emily and Zachary thought it was pretty cool that the tomato plants at the farm were taller than they were. Emily’s favorite type of tomato was the pink variety. They are a little sweeter than a typical tomato. But she didn’t care, she just liked the name. Imagine that. Emily liking something because it’s pink. We had yummy caprese salad for dinner that evening!

We had a really great time. Can’t wait for next month’s trip to the farm for apples. Emily is a little miffed that she won’t be able to go. She starts pre-kindergarten September 1 and goes half days Monday through Friday. It will just be me and Zachary. An adjustment for all!

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Ultimate Sandwich Makeover

I love HouseParty.com. I have been lucky enough to have been chosen to host 2 parties. Most recently being Kraft’s Ultimate Sandwich Makeover. A fellow awesome playgroup momma and I both were selected to host. Instead of having two separate parties, inviting the same people, we decided to combine our loot and have one big party. Amy was amazing and opened up her home and did most of the work. She’s awesome, have I mentioned that?

The spread was laid out- Oscar Mayer carving board meats, Kraft Big Slice cheese and three different flavors of Kraft sandwich shop mayo. All courtesy of Kraft Foods! Amy and I provided bread and other sandwich fixins’ while the guests brought food to share. We had quite the buffet going on! If you went home hungry it was not fault but your own!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to “host” as much as I would have liked. I think poor Zachary was just so worn out from his busy weekend that he was in protest mode. He didn’t want me to put him down at all. When I finally got him down, he freaked when he couldn’t see me. Fun times. it got so bad that he just couldn’t stop crying. I had to jet out of party pretty quickly. Luckily, some wonderful moms helped me load up the car and get outta dodge. I am sure they were happy to see the screaming child go!

It was a great party though! Amy did a wonderful job of setting everything up. There was a lot off food and a lot of great conversation. It’s always a great time when you *try* to get some adult conversation in during the day. Even better when you succeed! Kraft was very generous with their freebies and coupons. Again, I love House Party!

Butterfly House

Winter blahs. What can you do to take your mind off of the bitter cold? Head to the Butterfly House where it is always a balmy 82 degrees! This was Zachary’s first trip there and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of the heat or the butterflies. We met our playgroup there so Emily had a great time, as always. Her little friend, Autumn, was there and they always have a great time. Emily even had one land on her head! She was following the advice of Fancy Nancy and was dressed colorfully and had on her butterfly spray (aka Bath and Body Works).

After we sweated and checked out all of the pretty butterflies, we headed over to the carousel. It was a day of firsts for Zachary as this was his first time riding one. Not sure if it was the best choice though as this one is really, really fast! Emily got to ride unattended for the first time. Nice hitting the magic 4 year mark! Zachary seemed to enjoy it as we were waiting for everyone to saddle up. Luckily, at last-minute, I decided to climb on with him. Once we started, he was a little more than apprehensive. He never cried though. Just held on for dear life.

It was a great excursion to mix up the winter doldrums!