apple picking

I don't know how I grew up in St. Louis and have never been to Ekerts. My mom admitted she never took us.. w/ four of us, I don't think we went a lot of places! But this makes it even more fun to take my kids and see it for the first time with them! Saturday we loaded up the family roadster and headed to Millstadt, IL. Ekerts is known for their apple orchards and pumpkin patches! I thought that we would go, pick a few apples and then head home.. NO! It was like a whole event. Pony rides, camel rides, pumpkin launches (Chris' favorite), apple crisps, pig races, petting zoos, rides, hayrides, slides.. EVERYTHING! We headed out early in the AM to coordinate w/ nap schedules, and we seriously went at a perfect time. No overwhelming crowds, no long lines, no overcrowding on the tractor :)
It is so funny to watch Ellie at these sort of things. The girl talks constantly and is on repeat for 24 hours straight, but the second we get somewhere where she doesn't know anyone, there is a crowd, and it is new, you can't even get her to say yes or no. She just holds Johnny's hand and looks around.

We watched the ponys run around in circles and went down the big mine slide, but did not do any rides. Ellie is not one for rides (just like her dad :)

but she really got into the apple picking.. Chris taught how to get a good twist and she was off. Running up and down the aisles picking the absolute worst apples of the bunch. We would just throw them down when she wasn't looking.

Chris turned into quite the apple connoisseur when we were there "these are better for baking", "that one has an ant in it", "this one is cracked" ..

 I mean, neither of us even really LIKE apples, so this is all for show .. but we had to have the BEST ones.

 Ellie attempted to get those two front teeth in... concentrating REALLY hard

 Daddy gave her a head start...

 Maybe we have ONE apple liker in our family..

She liked the thrill of the hunt the best.

Johnny Appleseed! I think John would have inhaled that whole thing if we weren't watching him. The poor buddy is getting in what seems like all his teeth at once, so will knaw on anything that will let him.

 This one will knaw on a lot too.

 YAY! Apple picking! Can't wait to come back next year!

And... enough w/ the pictures.. Oh! So this lady and her son stopped us and asked if we could take their picture. Of course Chris jumped at this opportunity. Got down on all fours and started going to town. The poor lady probably has at least 20 of her and her son. But then she walked away and we didn't get to ask her to take our picture :(

Oh well, there is always pumping patch season that is right around the corner!