a life + style blog by Britt Raborn

It’s rare these days that we get Joel for an entire weekend to ourselves. So, when we do, we make the most of it. Truly, this year in his mini fellowship year has been an adjustment for all of us. Something that I learned early on in our relationship is that absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Even though he spends a lot of time at the hospital, we sure do make the most of his time off.

With a whole weekend off we wanted to do all the fall things. There was a lot going on and a lot we wanted to do. Something we’ve had on our fall bucket list for a few years now is apple picking. Always having an excuse of… it’s too far, the kids aren’t old enough, or coming up with excuses on whether it’s worth it. Well, it is 100% worth it! Gosh, I had no idea they would enjoy apple picking so much. The only place that still has apples right now is Scott’s Orchard in Hazel Green, Alabama. So, we loaded up on Saturday after Scarlett’s soccer game and made the 2 hour trek. After talking to the workers, we made it by just 1-2 weekends left. They are at the end of their picking season, so we were lucky we caught them before they were all gone/rotted. We mostly picked Red Delicious and Arkansas Black apples.

The kids enjoyed spotting apples and then climbing in the trees to pick them. We even found a ladder that was free and the kids loved taking turns climbing up to pick. Walking around the orchard was really nice too. The weather was perfect! They had a kids hay and slide area to play in which was their “reward” for working hard picking some apples 🙂 We cleaned our apples, checked out the market, grabbed some apple slushies, and headed home. We spent a good 2 hours there and probably could have spent another 30-45, but we knew Shep needed to get fed and take a nap, so we hopped in the car while we had a good window. We will definitely be back. The drive out there with all the cows, cotton fields, and horses was so enjoyable. Scarlett even said on the way back, “were leaving the country and heading back to the city” which made us laugh.

Scarlett’s Dress is The Oaks Apparel c/o | Scarlett’s Booties | Sully and Shep’s Knit Name Sweaters are Grace and James Kids (use code: SMGBRITT for free shipping)