Entirely Emily: Seasons

(This is the 8th post in my "Things I love about Saint Louis" series. Click here to read more)

When I was younger my parents would take us apple picking over the Mississippi in Illinois to Eckert's apple orchard. It is about a 30 minutes drive for us to the Millstadt location. ( they have three locations) Back in the day, we would get there stand in a line where a tractor would pick us up and take us on a ride to pick the apples. We'd pick the apples,come back pay for them, and leave. Pretty simple and alot of fun. We would eat the apples out in the orchard until we couldn't walk anymore.

This is the only building I remember from my youth. It looked just like this 25 years ago

When J and I had kids, i knew I would take them there as well. It's so much more than just a tractor ride now. It's all about having a family day out there. It is $10 per person for anyone over 2. Sometimes you can find coupons online so always check first. I did and found one on their website. There are even deals for weekdays and after school stuff. When you walk in, there is so much to see and do.

There is a rocket ride...

a mini tractor train ride....

pony rides...

piggy races at Billy's Bob ( he was hysterical. So worth the wait!)....

The girl's were assigned a pig and he won! Go Green!

tire swings and tires...

...bird feeding, a maze, a magic act, camel rides, the golder goat bridge ( ha)....

a mini petting zoo...

and so much more. The food here was great and not any more expensive than the zoo or other tourist attractions. Super yummy pulled pork sandwich!

They grow apples, pumpkins and Christmas trees here. They have a booming business from august through December.

After all of that fun, we boarded the tractor to pick apples. They have many varieties that they grow but this particular day they were letting us pick the Jonathan, Red Delicious and the Golden Delicious. When I asked them which would be the best to make a pie or dessert, the woman that gave us our bags said , Jonathon. So that's what I went for.

The girls were amazed that we could pick the apples off the tress and just eat them. Although i had to keep telling S that we don't pick the ones on the ground since we didn't' know how rotten they were. The trees were so laden with fruit it was unreal. They said the very warm summer we had caused all of the apples to come in earlier than usual.

Don't worry ...she wasn't eating them off the ground. Just adjusting her bag.

Someone else getting a bite.

The nice tractor driver took our pic. Not too shabby.

We filled all of our bags and bellies and headed back in. All in all, we picked 10 lbs of apples and they were $1.99 a lb to buy. But it's well worth it knowing where they came from.

As we were leaving , we noticed that they were firing off pumpkins in the pumpkin chucker. It shot those suckers hundreds of feet in the air. I couldn't get a good shot but a photo would not have done it justice. A video would have been better.

I hope that they enjoy doing this for a long time to come because I enjoy taking them there and seeing how much fun they have. And I get to eat and buy apples that are fresh. Wait until I show you what i made with them....mmm...mmmm!