It's Raining Apples!

It's raining around here... raining apples that is! 

When Josh and I looked at Éveiller House the first time, we never noticed this precious little gem nestled in the corner of the property next to the road. I don't think we noticed it the second or third time either, to be honest! We were more concerned with the house itself, and didn't pay a ton of attention to the trees that graced the property line. 

This gem is a 100 year old apple tree, that stands about 30-40 feet high, and has produced literally hundreds of the most delicious apples for us! It's been fun watching the tree branches sag with the weight of the apples as they grow, and the rich color grow redder and redder as time goes on. 

Our kids have been begging to pick the apples from the first time they laid on eyes on the tree. It's been a challenge to keep their grimy little paws off of the apples, to be honest! But today, today is the day that they got to pick apples to their hearts content! 

The boys had loads of fun, climbing the ladders, picking the apples, and were proud as peacocks when their buckets were filled all the way to the top! 

Jared also thought this was the funnest thing ever, but his idea of picking apples was taking bites of all the ones he could get his hands on... Stinker! 

Jared and I abandoned the picking when the bees decided that Jared sticky, sweet smelling, apple juice covered hands were just too good to stay away from. That, and instead of shooing the bees away, Jared just let them crawl all over him, and wanted to pick them off. I usually caught him just in time before his little pinchers pinched the bees, and he never got stung, but I figured it was just a matter of time before our luck was going to run out! 

We only ended up picking maybe a third of the tree before our 10 gallon bucket was filled to the brim of red delicious goodness! 

The tree is so tall that we're not sure how to get to the majority of the apples that sit up at the top. Josh had his 10 foot ladder out, and got a good 12-13 feet up into the apple tree with it, but there is still so much more to go! 

What is the plan with all of these delicious apples? Well, I'm not totally sure... lots of good stuff to be certain! We plan on making some apples preserves, and apple sauces... and probable some yummy baked goods as well! 

It's raining apples around here! Especially when my kids are picking... you have to watch your head of your anywhere near where they are picking, haha!