My Instead: I took my grandkids to Eckert's for apple picking and more!
I was looking at another
long working day in my rearview and ahead of me, I thought, were a few evening
jobs to catch up on my workload. But then I looked at the beautiful day around
me on my ride home. What about that thing called “balance” in my life? Time to
do something fun and time to do it with kids!
My phone and I got busy
calling the moms of my grandchildren. Neither one of them seemed to mind my
taking their kids for the evening. Imagine that! My 16-year-old Honda CRV turned “bus” as I began
my polar trips: one to pick up Tyler and Danny in west Belleville and one to
get Abbey and Andy south of Smithton. Then the five of us headed east to Eckert’s
to do some apple picking. I was outnumbered four to one and the energy level of
these kids was a bit higher than mine. “Would I have had an easier evening if I
had just gone with my original plan and done more work?” I began to wonder.
Come on, I can do this!
We boarded the wagon for
the ride out to the orchards, but Andy was not a happy passenger. He loves ‘vroom-vrooms”
as he calls trucks, bulldozers, tractors, etc., but he usually enjoys their fun
appeal from a distance. When we were finally delivered to our “picking”
destination, Andy settled down and was back in business. Apple picking held its
allure for about 15 minutes for the kids, then racing between the rows of apple
trees became the real attraction. I decided to let them get it out of their
systems.
When the wagon came back
to get us, we loaded up our bags of apples and ourselves. We arrived at our
original starting point, paid for the “fruit” of our hard work, and then stocked
my Honda with the apples. It was playground time at last and kid ricochet
as they ran from one thing to the next. Tyler and Danny showed off their parkour
skills without even breaking a sweat or a bone. Abbey and Andy were never far
behind. The sandbox was a nice calming activity…for a while. Then they were all
“off and running” again.
Empty stomachs finally
ruled as we propelled ourselves to the restaurant. Between ordering and getting
our meals, we played tick-tack-toe and chatted about what activity we each
liked best. We got our bellies filled and darkness settled in for the evening.
It was time to head “homes” in my Honda. I unloaded my “cargos”, then gathered
my memories as I returned to my empty home...filled.
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