On Sunday afternoon my little family and I went on a much needed fall adventure together to Cranes apple orchard in Fennville, Michigan. It was a crisp fall day, overcast and a bit windy perfect for running around, blowing off steam and stress from the previous week.
While I had the dream of my family walking together pulling apples from the tree…the first thing that happened was otto went #2 in his pants. I literally changed his dirty diaper in the grass by the truck but hey, you do what you gotta do. Once that was out of the way we were back in business. We headed towards the shed to pick up our apple bag and we were on our way.
One look at those long rows of trees and Otto was OFF. It was basically like a runway for toddlers and honestly I didn’t mind. It was so good to see him run and get excited about the wind and the threes. We finally got him to slow down enough to show him how to pull an apple off the tree. Once he figured that out he had a riot getting all three of us to pull as hard as we could to get the apples from the tree.
We spent an hour running around picking different varieties that will be made into cobbler and other desserts this week. It was nice to be slow. To spend time together with nothing on the agenda but enjoy apple picking together.
After we had our share of apples we loaded up otto (kicking and screaming because he wasn’t done yet) and headed to the neighboring hard cider place called Virtue Cider. We had some hot mulled cider while otto fought a nap in his stroller.
Moments like these I am so grateful for. The opportunity to take a break. I have had a hard time letting go of some stressful situations and if I’m being totally honest with you, I haven’t done the best at letting go.
My brain is always reanalyzing the situations and letting it almost consume me. I’m trying to seek to find control over my anxiety and thoughts but it’s easier said than done. Some things I just can’t shake. So I be quiet and seek to find direction. (side note I’m still looking).
I wouldn’t call myself being in a “rut” but I would call myself being stuck. I want to be one of those thick skinned individuals that’s able to shake things off but I’m just not. Not only am I a people pleaser, i’m an overachiever and I’m hard on myself. I take things super personally. I’m struggling to find the satisfaction with my performance as mom, employee, blogger, wife etc.
I am working on it though. I feel in my heart I know the road forward it is just up to me to execute it. I have already been working on keeping my time balanced and October has been a good month for us. It’s all work in progress right?
In the meantime as we continue moving forward I’m going to soak up these moments of my wild toddler and husband in the apple orchard doing not much of anything at all.
My two boys always loved a trip to the apple orchard. So many fun things to do.
Plus for me…it wore them out!
I understand the struggle you are having and I can tell you that it just takes time. When the kids are little you want them to experience so many things, but that means you have more to juggle.
It took me years to find my “calm” place.
It’s there just keep walking towards it.
Thanks again for sharing Otto, I loved having 2 boys. He is so cute and fun to watch. Robyn
I grew up in a tiny northern Indiana town that had an Apple Festival every year and was surrounded by them. Now that I’m a grown up living in the south, I miss those festivals and orchards. Nashville is just not synonymous with apple orchards. One note about the anxiety. I, too, suffer from it in waves at times. I have to take breaks from the things I love sometimes because I find they are often the fuel to my anxiety. I wondered, as a blogger, do you feel anxiety from it at times? Just seems the demand for the best pictures with editing, writing the best blog entries, and saying all the right things might sometimes bring on anxiety – and you might not even be aware of it. Just curious about that.