Schools out for the summer and fortunately for us, my son Layton who is now 11 has no problem keeping himself entertained. We live close to Ben Lee Park in Kelowna's Rutland neighbourhood where he greatly enjoys the skate park; he practices his scooter tricks daily. He has made plenty of new friends, some from his school and others from different schools in our area. It seems that every few days he's telling us about somebody new or bringing them by the house to introduce them and ask if he can go over to their house. This is awesome, however, it makes it easy for hours and days to go by where I see him very little, especially since building my business keeps my schedule hectic and irregular. I have put more effort into being present in his life. Yesterday, I asked him if he wanted to go pick cherries with me. He hesitantly agreed. I wrapped up some research I was doing for a client and Sarah, Layton, and I, got in the car. Just a short drive up the Rutland hillside, maybe 5-minutes or so from home, we came across an orchard with row upon row of trees all dangling handfuls of dark, crimson cherries.
We kept driving until we came to the farm's dirt driveway welcoming us with the typical cardboard sign that read "Cherries For Sale." The farmer came out and we asked if we could pick them ourselves. He gave us a containers and instructed us to find the juiciest, sweetest, ripe cherries towards the back of the orchard. Immediately, we noticed a few chickens picking around in the shade underneath the trees. It reminded me of last years trip to Indonesia, where we seen chickens all over.
Yesterday, I asked him if he wanted to go pick cherries with me. He hesitantly agreed. I wrapped up some research I was doing for a client and Sarah, Layton, and I, got in the car. Just a short drive up the Rutland hillside, maybe 5-minutes or so from home, we came across an orchard with row upon row of trees all dangling handfuls of dark, crimson cherries.
Layton found himself some low hanging cherries and began filling his container. Of course, you look up and there are handfuls more just out of reach. We had passed by a ladder as we walked through the orchard so I went back and got it so he could get up higher. It didn't take long until we had filled the container to the brim.
I asked him to show off his harvest then he looked at me and said, "When you asked me to go cherry picking, I didn't really want to go. I thought it would be boring. It turns out, this was a lot of fun!" We walked back to the farmers stand outside his home to have our cherries weighed. Five pounds of cherries to take home and a fun family excursion for just $10 - just another reason we love calling Kelowna home!
