Apples of my eye

 We spent the day in a mountain town called Oak Glen that is lush in apple orchards. Actually being from the city but Aloha to all walks of life at heart, we crave and enjoy exposing our kids to different environments. I love that they're comfortable in these situations and that we're creating memories as a family. Willowbrook Farm is where we like to come and take part in U-pick apple picking and U-press cider. It's a smaller farm nestled on the backside of the mountain and before all the hustle, bustle and hullabaloo of Los Rios Rancho and Oak Tree Villiage which are lots of fun too.
After sampling (and liking) their unique Stayman Apple, Farmer Rick takes you through to the orchard, which is situated around their home, and educates you on how to pick and apple off of 100 year old trees! The kids payed attention (even HeaBug) to the twist not pull technique, we chose which size bag we wanted to pick (the biggest one of course) and were off to spend as much time as we liked wandering through Willowbrook Farm.

We met Comet the horse and said hello to Blossom the pig (who was MUCH bigger than the last time we saw her two seasons ago). Even though it was a warm day, the cool shade gave us the best refuge. HeaBug and JT picked huge apples off the trees along the fence line and climbed rocks and chased a cat (well that was all the little miss). HeaBug has an obsession with taking off after babies and animals, facinated by things that are smaller than her... She was saying Hi to a baby (and I was apologizing to her mom which I generally do after HeaBug takes off after your child, again, sorry) when her mom told me I looked so familiar. She asked if I was LDS (because she saw ETRNLFAM written on my highschoolesque grown up chucks) and I told her I was. Turns out, we went to the same ward as teenagers. What a small world!
*a little back story on the small world of Willowbrook farm real quick... two years ago when we went to the same farm and Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and their daughter Violet were there, under the trees relaxing in the quiet. ever since (because i'm a little crazy) I've been convinced that we could have been "friends", since we love us some BenGar haha.

Pictures from our trip to Willowbrook, two years apart. My lillo JT has grown! and HeaBug has now been born! Lol.

 
We pressed a gallon of our own cider and ate caramel apple slices. The caramel is handmade from a dairy farmer friend of Willowbrook. We bought blackberry jam (from their crop!) and apple butter. The kiddos sucked on fruit flavored honey sticks all afternoon and patiently rode the 1 1/2 hour ride home watching Yo Gabba Gabba and Princess and the Frog on the iPad.
As always it was wonderful time spent together as a family.