On Thursday, June 5th, Matt and I took Ava on her first tip to an orchard. I know you're probably thinking, 'An orchard in Las Vegas?' and don't worry, we thought the same thing. Earlier that week while watching the news, we heard a snippet about a small local orchard finally opening back up to the public for the season. After doing a bit of research to find out more about the orchard, we found out that it happened to be about 10 minutes from our house! So, in accordance to Matt's and my goal to give Ava Holt as many life experiences as possible, we loaded up the Camry and headed to the Gilcrease Orchard (the cool weather (low 80's) was an added bonus).
Right now, the only things that we could pick were apricots and zucchini. The rest of their crops (apples, pears, tomatoes, melons, winter squash, and pumpkins) aren't ready to be picked just yet. When we got to the orchard, it was packed with cars and people. I'm not sure if it was due to the nice weather or the fact that the orchard had just re-opened two days prior, but it was full of people...not what we were expecting. Since we didn't really need any zucchini, we stuck to the apricot picking.
The reason Matt was able to go with us was because he was night flying that evening and didn't have to go in to work until around 3pm (he didn't get home until 5am the next morning!). Both Ava and I were so excited that he could go with us.
Anyhow, we had a great time out in the orchard. Ava had a blast sitting on top of her Daddy's shoulders touching all the different trees and leaves and even managed to pull a ripe apricot off the tree all by herself. Matt opened up a few apricots for Ava to try (no skin, just the flesh) and she wasn't quite sure what to think about the new treat. Her outfit was a bit stained by the end of the picking, but we didn't care...it was a great life and family experience. I can't wait until all the other fruits and vegetables ripen and we can return to the orchard. As for the nature of the fruits and vegetables, the orchard only uses garlic water to deter insects, so they're pesticide free...which makes me happy.
Oh, and as we went to leave the orchard, Ava tried to drive us home. It didn't work out so well...she couldn't reach the pedals...