what else is there to do when it’s a sunny autumn day and you recently added your first ever high-waisted, wide-legged jeans to your wardrobe, except to load you, your boy, your mum, a picnic blanket, lemonade, snacks, and paper and pencils into the car and drive nearly an hour out to the apple orchard for some much-needed air to breathe and fields to roam?
i didn’t anticipate just how warm it would be sitting under the sun, no shady trees in sight, but luckily i had an extra shirt tucked away at the bottom of my bag liam took advantage of as quick as he could. even with the short sleeves, he still returned to me and mum with rosy cheeks after playing on the playground, swinging on swings, sliding down slides. we didn’t pick any apples, as many had begun to rot, but liam did draw pictures of the apple trees. we walked down a lonesome, dusty trail. sat in a patch of tall grass by the water. tried our best to stay out of the sun (to no avail, i’m afraid). spotted spiderwebs. watched the orchard-touring tractor go by again and again. took turns going temporarily blind facing the sun for photos in front of the orchard (but they turned out rather ok, i think). reluctantly used the porta potty (not a favourite of liam’s). dealt with (ok, more so ignored) a meltdown by my 6 year old in the incredibly public parking lot (cue the inevitable judgement by online mothers who a) may or may not ever read this and b) somehow manage to stay perfectly empathetic to all meltdowns ever). still left feeling recharged to have had a little slice of the great outdoors, in spite of the sun-induced sweating (go away, you fool, summer is over), and in spite of the less than favourable overemotional ending on a certain overemotional tiny human’s part.
can’t win ’em all, i guess. at least i still have my lemonade.
little joys 