Peach Fest

Every year, at the end of May, Schnepf Farms has a Peach Festival to celebrate the ripening (and eating) of its peaches. I decided it sounded pretty fun, and my parents joined the kids and me for a Saturday morning visit. We thought we'd chow down on the peach pancake breakfast first, but were given tickets and were told to come back at 9:30. So we had some time to kill.

The kids enjoyed a pony ride.

Then we sampled all the peachy wares in the sampling tent. Candies, jams, salsas, syrups, and more.

It was now 9:30, so we headed over to the breakfast line. Which was extremely long and incredibly slow.

New plan.

We'll ditch this breakfast line, Grandma will go stand in line to buy a flat of peaches (there was a long wait for the hay ride to the peach orchards to pick your own), and the rest of us will go check out the roller coaster. Then we'll go to Denny's for breakfast.

No one was checking for wrist bands, though I was prepared to pay for the ride. Despite the throngs around the food tents, the amusement ride area was practically deserted. Since there wasn't a line for the roller coaster, the conductor let them go around three times.

We were all starving by the time we got to Denny's. No freshly-picked peach pancakes there. But guess what? The (overpriced) plates we had spotted at Schnepf Farms didn't look that enticing anyway. And my Red-White-and-Blue pancake breakfast was quite good. Plus, Lincoln was happy to be out of the heat.

So although I love Schnepf Farms, and have really enjoyed my other experiences there, I will not be going to the Peach Festival again. Too many tourists. We can enjoy it any time, when it's less crowded, thank you.

Heather's Little Peanut!

Adam and Heather are expecting their first baby (a boy!) at the end of June. My mom spent countless hours preparing for Heather's baby shower. It had a circus/elephant theme, and it turned out beyond adorable!

From the tiny homemade stuffed elephants, to the elephant suckers, to the gallons of delicious homemade caramel corn, everything was amazing.

The guests had fun visiting and playing games, and I think they all had a great time. It was a total success, and Heather certainly deserved a special day.

Now we're just waiting for the little peanut to arrive!

What my kids think of me.

Bree and Mason came home from church on Mother's Day with questionnaires they had filled out about me. Here are the highlights:

Bree:
My mom is 27 years old.
My mom weighs 110 pounds.
My mom's favorite food is everything.
My mom always says, "I love you."
My mom cooks the best meals.
My mom's job is being Mom.
My mom laughs when I tell jokes.
If my mom had time, she would love to spend time with me.

Mason:
My mom is  7  years old.
My mom's favorite food is pizza.
My mom always says, "I love you."
My mom cooks the best noodles.
My mom's job is nothing.
If my mom had time, she would love to read.
My mom and I like to make muffins.
I love my mom because she is so beautiful.

I love being a mom.

Down on the Farm

We live just a few minutes from Schnepf Farms, an adorable family-owned farm and agritourism spot. And it's organic peach season! We visited Thursday morning, and were disappointed that there were no peaches ready for picking on that day. But the trip was certainly not wasted, since we were able to enjoy the free attractions around the farm.

We saw some pigs, chickens, and peacocks. There were peahens too, and we got to see peacock eggs for the first time.

The kids played in the playground.

We all really enjoyed the petting zoo. This is definitely my favorite place to pet farm animals. They are clean and extra friendly. This black and white bull was very docile.

There was also a brown cow in the stall across the way that kept wedging its head between the bars so it could shove us around. Mason got "nudged" pretty good! But the goats were the favorites. Unlike at most petting zoos, these little guys would come up and beg to be petted.

Mason became obsessed with finding out which ones had "stripes' in their eyes (they looked like slit-shaped pupils). For some reason it creeped him out.

They were so sweet and gentle. Every time I crouched down to snap some photos, I would end up with two or three goats laying their heads in my lap.

We stopped buy the store to buy some pre-picked peaches.

And we couldn't resist sampling some wares from the bakery: a cinnamon roll and a sticky bun. You know, since it had been a whole hour since we had eaten breakfast.

The peaches were juicy and sweet, and made a delicious cobbler. Peach season will be over too soon, but we're glad that we'll be able to enjoy Schnepf Farms all year 'round!

May 9th, 2013

California! (Day 3)

Our third and final day in California. We checked out of our hotel and drove to the Balboa Pier at Newport Beach. It was a beautiful sunny day. The sun almost made up for how cold the water was. The kids could have played in the surf for hours...

We finished up with lunch at Ruby's Diner, which is actually on the end of the pier. Very cool.

The vacation was definitely too short. It left us wanting for more. Which is a good thing.

We'll be back.

California! (Day 2)

We were beside ourselves with excitement for our day at Disneyland. The kids didn't know what they were in for, but they took their cue from Chad and me; we were giddy with anticipation. The weather was perfect--cool and overcast. The kids knew the rules of conduct, and they behave so well. I wanted the day to be perfect, and in true Megan form I set my expectations high. But even though I may have complained about waiting in lines, the kids didn't seem to mind. And in the end, we were able to see a lot considering we only had one day.

The rides were a huge hit, especially the Matterhorn and Splash Mountain. The kids were all about the thrills.

We paused for some classic photo ops in between rides. Getting the kids to look at the camera continues to be an issue, but with so much going on, who can blame them?

The kids were also really excited about meeting the characters and getting some signatures in their autograph books. Meeting the princesses was definitely the best of the meet and greets. On more than one occasion a princess commented on Mason's Incredibles t-shirt, and I assume they asked him if he was fast like Dash, because he would spontaneously sprint around in a wide circle and return, smiling and expecting confirmation that he was, indeed, very fast. I think this happened three different times during the day.

We ended the day watching the parade while munching on some very overpriced (yet delicious) Mickey candy. When we were finding a place to sit, the kids said they didn't want to watch the parade, but I knew better. The only parades they've been to have been in downtown Globe, and... let's just say that the Disneyland floats and dancing characters were slightly better. They loved it.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted. Mason and Bree chatted about the highlights of the day, and Mason took his souvenir hook to bed with him.

I read a little more from Fablehaven until Mason had nodded off, and the rest of us could barely keep our eyes open.

It was definitely a magical day.

California--finally! (Day 1)

The big trip to San Diego (Sea World, Zoo, beach, etc) that we planned back in September was cancelled, thanks to Mason's broken arm. But we vowed to make the vacation happen sooner or later. As spring arrived, we decided we'd better go for it before too much time passed. We had to downsize the vacation a bit, due to recent expenditures with the move. We ended up just doing a few days instead of a whole week, and opted for Disneyland instead of San Diego. Chad and I were so excited for the kids to see Disneyland, and we haven't been there for eight years, so we've been itching to go ourselves!

We started out the drive with a stop at Mimi's (our favorite place to eat breakfast). Then we passed the time watching DVDs, reading aloud from Fablehaven (one of Chad's and my favorite juvenile fiction series), and listening to Mason puke twice as we wound our way through the California hills. Around 2:00 we reached Laguna Beach, our first destination, and enjoyed fish and chips at a restaurant with a view, Big Fish. Then the kids met the Pacific Coast for the first time. Laguna is gorgeous, and has a fun little playground where we watched Bree and Mason getting rid of 8 hours worth of wiggles.

Then we walked along the coast, making our way to the tide pools, which Bree was very excited to see, after learning about them in Science.

Chad helped Bree find crabs and other little creatures, while Mason hopped and slipped over the rocks, making me very nervous.

And no trip to Laguna is complete without a caramel apple at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Then, after checking into our hotel in Anaheim, we headed to Downtown Disney for some dinner, shopping and fun. Our favorite attraction: the Lego Store!

 Mason was in heaven and wanted to buy everything in sight.

There was a fun racing ramp where the kids were able to build their own Lego cars and see whose was the fastest.

We ate dinner at a yummy pizza place, then wandered through the huge Disney Store. The sun finally disappeared, and we headed back to the hotel, happy and exhausted.