Saturday, July 12, 2014

Peach Picking Fun!

So, this week has been a bit of a long week for our extended family and many of our friends. It has been a week filled with loss, worry, tons of prayers, and thankfully a miraculous rescue! Needless to say, I haven't really been in the blogging state of mind...but...I have to share another fun, farming adventure my mom, Landry and I set out on. :)

As I shared in my apricot picking post...one of my goals for the summer has been to show Landry more of the Central Valley and all of the fun things you can do. Thanks to good ol' Facebook...I found out about another u-pick experience for us.

On Sunday we got in the car and headed out to Kingsburg to...


They are a family run farm...we are actually friends with part of the family...that has a variety crops available at various times of the summer/year. At this time they had their July flame peaches as well as Owen T Plums ready to pick. After an over the river, through the woods, many wrong turns, and almost missed turns, crazy car ride...with yours truly driving...we made it. :)


Right away they have lots of signs to help guide you. The gentleman that was out there was so nice and gave us a brief lesson on what kind of peaches to look for and some tips for picking plums as well. One thing that was really nice was they had signs that guided you right to the trees that had ripe fruit...so part of the guessing was eliminated. :)


We got our wagon and headed out to the orchard! 
Landry was definitely more interested in pulling the wagon than he was in picking peaches. :)


Another "perk" was that we were highly encouraged to taste the peaches while we picked...that way we knew what color of peaches we found the most tasty. 
How can you pass up the opportunity to pick and eat fresh peaches?




Once we had our load of peaches we headed over to get some plums.
Landry was NOT a fan of the plums...but I thought they were tasty.
I also had NO idea how pretty plum trees are.


As you can see...someone decided that the wagon was getting too heavy...
so it was more fun to ride in the wagon. :)


Say cheese!



They also have some farm animals that you can visit with and pet. After we paid for our harvest...did I mention that it is only 65 cents per pound...we visited the animals one last time.

The llama...or alpaca...I'm honestly not really sure. :)


Bunnies, ducks, and a turtle!


Landry got to pet a young cow!


Cute little piggies...


tons of turkeys, chickens, and roosters...


and even some ostriches!


It was another morning filled with fun, laughter, some peach fuzz, animals, and crazy-country driving...and the peaches were absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!

If you want to go check them out for yourself, they are going to be open the weekend for the last of the July flame peaches. According to their Facebook page they will then close until the end of July/beginning of August when they will reopen with their August flame peaches, grapes, and plums.

Here is a link to their website for more info:
http://www.farleyfarms.com

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Under the Big Top!

On Saturday afternoon we headed downtown to...

This was Landry's first year and we were hoping that he'd love it.
I mean, one of the main features is his favorite...elephants...how could he not?
We got there early to check out the pre-show...
and just barely made it in time to see the animals before the show.
I think Landry was a bit overwhelmed when we first entered the arena.
He quickly warmed up when he saw he could sit on a motorcycle!

(Least flattering picture of me...ugh! :) )

During the pre-show they had different acts that you could watch from the floor...
including Chinese jugglers...


and, can you tell from the look on his face...


an ELEPHANT!!!




The elephant played a little soccer...in honor of the World Cup.
I love the look of awe in his sweet eyes!


After soccer, the elephant painted a picture.
Landry thought it was the neatest thing!



Time for the show to start!






It was hard to get good pics of this act...but believe it or not there are SIX motorcycles in this ball...all zipping around together!



This guy is clearly a little crazy...Alexander the lion trainer.
I'm not going to lie, I was a bit nervous during this performance, 
thinking that it could go horribly wrong rather quickly.






Thankfully it didn't!



Acrobats with fire



This was the best moment of the circus! 
During the show, Landry spent most of his time watching the curtain waiting for the elephants to come out. 
He could hardly wait for them. Then, this appeared and he was in complete awe. He turned to me and said, "Mom...did you even know that there were flying horses in this world?"
Totally cracked us up!



Once he recovered from the awe of the "flying" horse...he was in elephant heaven!




It is hard to see...but the elephant on the far right is actually standing on it's head!



Landry may have been fooled by the flying horse...
but not when it came to...


the woolly mammoth!
Right away he asked, "Why is that elephant wearing a silly costume?"


I think it is safe to say that Landry had a great time...even if he did almost fall asleep towards the end. :)