When apple picking leads to planking

When Cody and Nick were little we spent many hours at the playground. I loved to watch them run (and sometimes tumble) and giggle, climb and slide, swing and scream their little heads off practice their outdoor voices, all while absorbing the sunshine and fresh air. Of course I often timed it according to nap time, secretly hoping to exhaust them into a successful afternoon slumber. Sometimes it worked, more times it didn’t, but the joy it brought me to watch them run and play was truly precious. I can’t believe it’s literally been years since those days. With Cody well into his teen years and Nick creeping up on them ever too quickly, those wonderful days are long gone. One of our very favorite playgrounds was the one across the road from an apple orchard that we visited many years in a row. I loved that we could take our time picking the perfect apples, munch on one to be sure they were just right, and then walk over to the playground. Once they were a certain size it was even better because Paul and I could simply plop down on a bench and watch as they played, chatting and simply enjoying doing nothing but watching our boys play the time away. Now that the boys are so much older apple picking just isn’t the adventure it used to be. We get to the orchard and pick apples in five minutes flat, I have to remind Paul that we all have a bag and his twenty pounds alone is a bit too much, we each eat one, I take a few pictures, we pay for our fruit, and head home. Not at all adventure it used to be.

This year I decided to at least pack us all water bottles and a container of homemade cookies so we could extend our time out of the house and enjoy the exceptionally gorgeous weather we were having last weekend. After purchasing our apples, I suggested we put our apples in the car and walk over to the playground like we used to and enjoy our treat on a picnic table. I was surprised at the lack of people at the playground. This was the perfect day for it, but I certainly wasn’t complaining. It was nice to just enjoy each other while soaking up the sun and noshing on our cookies. But really, though, how can anyone possibly allow time at the playground go by without a little fun? Even big kids can have fun, especially the biggest kid, my husband.

Yup that’s right. Planking. Paul thought it would be fun to plank at the playground and Nick had to get in on the action and I simply had to take pictures. It’s probably a really good thing that we were the only ones there that day because I’m pretty sure we would have scared a few people away if we hadn’t been, but that might not exactly be a bad thing. In an attempt to look like normal big kids and grown-ups at the playground we did do some other stuff, too.

In my defense, I rocked that cartwheel, but the photographer didn’t have great timing.