We are frequent visitors to Butler's Orchid in Germantown, Maryland. We have gone there to pick strawberries, blueberries, and apples. We have attended their spring festival and we have enjoyed their play equipment and slides. I am certain that COVID-19 has not been easy for family-run, pick-your-own orchards, such as Butler's. We were excited that orchards would be allowed to open and definitely wanted to show our support. We knew our experience this year would be quite different than most years, but it was still better to have part of the experience than miss it altogether. 

We began planning a trip to Butler's a few weeks ago, but initially had some trouble securing a reservation. If you plan to go to an orchard while COVID limitations are still in place, make sure you check their website beforehand to see if reservations are required. Butler's is so popular, it is necessary to know when reservation openings will be released so you can grab tickets before they run out. The tickets specify when you are allowed to enter the fields and you will have 90 minutes of picking time. 

We were finally able to secure reservations for July 1. As we prepared for the trip, I tried to explain to the girls that this visit would be different from previous visits so they wouldn't be too disappointed. At this time, the wonderful wooden play structures and huge slides (which the girls love) are still off limits. I wanted them to understand that before we arrived. 

While in the fields, everyone elementary-age and up must wear a mask. Again, I made sure the girls understood this requirement prior to our arrival. However, the masks were the most difficult part for my kids. While the temperature was quite mild for summer, wearing masks made it seem so much hotter. Because the fruit needs sun, there is not a tremendous amount of shade to be found in the fields. We would encourage the girls to sit under the shade of the cherry trees when they needed a break. 

Even with the limitations, our trip to the orchard provided some sense of normalcy to our lives. We usually pick fruit in the summer and here we were getting out of the house, driving to Maryland and picking blueberries and tart cherries. It felt nice to be outside in the fields and the girls even raced around a bit in an open field. They haven't had much opportunity to feel that type of exhaustion in awhile. The best part is we came home with nearly a gallon of wonderfully sweet blueberries.

School is finally out and we are so excited to begin our summer adventures. On Thursday--the first day of break--we took it easy. Meg wanted to be lazy and we all went along with it. In the morning, I finished reading Anna James' Pages & Co.: Tilly and the Bookwanderers (review to come later) and picked up Elizabeth Peters' The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog (#7 in the Amelia Peabody series). Early in the afternoon, we joined friends for a swim. The temperature was in the 70s and rain was looming, but that didn't stop the kids from enjoying the pool. The mothers firmly resolved to stay on the sidelines and out of the cold water. A particular treat of this  get together was that it included a family that had moved to Colorado a year ago. It was wonderful seeing the kids reconnect so easily after time apart. 

Our first true summer adventure outing took place Friday. The weather was still cool. In fact, by 10 a.m. it had still not reached 70. We decided it would be the perfect day to go strawberry picking. We headed to Butler's Orchard, because it was one of the few orchards in the area that still had strawberries. Butler's also has a fantastic play area, so we packed a picnic with the plan to stay there for several hours. 

Once we arrived, we altered our picking plans to include blueberries, tart cherries and peas as well as strawberries. The blueberries, cherries and strawberries all cost the same, so we were allowed to put them in the same bucket as we rode the tractor-pulled wagon from field to field. We drove to the field for peas later in the day. Bags were provided there and we were able to pick both sugar snap peas and English peas. 

Between our time of picking fruit and picking peas, we played at the Farm Park. I set up our picnic basket under the shade of a huge tree where I could watch Anne as she played in the giant wooden structures that make up the playground. Anne has a huge imagination and spent so much time in the wooden castle, ship and train. At times she played with other kids at the play area, but she was also perfectly content to play on her own. She particularly enjoyed the many tractors provided for the kids to play on.

While Anne played, Meg and Clare grabbed their journaling and art supplies. Meg and Clare have decided to keep a joint journal about their summer experiences and today was Meg's turn to write. Clare brought her art kit and used the time to do some nature journaling, which consisted of her attempting to capture the various shades of green in a leaf. 

No visit to Butler's Orchard could be complete without a visit to the animals. Meg and Clare love the goats. We are all fascinated by their rectangular pupils. Anne loved the sheep and Charlie the Pig (who Clare strongly believes should be named Wilbur). 

This was by far our most successful berry picking outing. In past years, we have melted under a blaring June sun and everyone became grumpy quickly. The mild weather was such a gift. I don't believe we had a single grumpy outburst during the entire outing. 

Butler's Orchard has been a favorite adventure destination for us for nearly two years now. We first went with Nicole as part of a day of adventure to celebrate her wedding (sort of a bachelorette party if the attendees were toddlers). That day we picked strawberries. Clare, who had just turned two and had already developed her obsession with all things Peter Rabbit, spotted a man whom she was convinced was Mr. McGregor. She was shaking with fear that he would put her in a pie. In an attempt to calm her fears, we talked to the man and his wife. It did little to calm Clare, but the man's wife was highly amused by the whole thing.

Since that time, we've picked blueberries, raspberries and apples at Butler's. We've also made their Bunnyland an annual tradition. We love Bunnyland. Sure, we would prefer that Bunnyland take place in the days following Easter. Right now we are observing Lent and it would be best if we were doing Lenten activities such as making pretzels (which we will do in the next few days). But Bunnyland and most Easter events take place before Easter these days, so we have to give a little bit. (One huge exception in our area is the White House Easter Egg Roll, which still takes place on the Monday after Easter as it has for many, many years.)

Back to Bunnyland. Yesterday Meg and Clare decided they would begin their Bunnyland day by hunting Easter eggs. There isn't really any hunting involved since the plastic eggs are just spread out on the ground. The kids fill little orchard baskets with eggs and then dump them into cleverly designed boxes that make returning eggs fun. Kids are promised a treat basket at then end of their visit to Bunnyland so there are no tears involved in returning the eggs. 

Periodically throughout the day, we saw the adorably dressed orchard bunny pictured below. At this point in the day she was handing out kettle corn. She did her job well. We went home with a bag of kettle corn because it was just so yummy. I must say I admired this woman's ability to keep a cheerful face throughout the day. It was quite warm yesterday and her costume was not meant for a hot day.

Always a favorite at Butler's Orchard is the rubber ducky race. As you can see below, kids pump out water and the little ducks move. Poor Meg was working with only one arm since her right arm is still in a cast. Clare still struggled with enough height and strength to pump any water at all. Still, they both loved it. 

Located throughout the festival are fun wooden cutouts and bunny scarecrows for great picture-taking opportunities. Meg loved the tractor below. This year she was just the right height to get the perfect picture.

Pony rides are another favorite at Bunnyland each year. As you can see below, bunny ears are added to the ponies (how cute is that!). The pony ride workers were extra helpful to me this year. Under normal circumstances, I would walk alongside Clare because she is small. This year I should also have walked alongside Meg because she is injured. But I had Baby Anne with us so I couldn't walk alongside either girl. The workers happily helped out and walked alongside each of the girls. 

Following pony rides, we played in the play area for awhile which consists of fantastic wooden play structures. I don't have any pictures because I was spending all my time trying to keep track of my children. We also went on a hay ride. I tried taking pictures of that, but none of them turned out very well. It is a fun hay ride. For one thing, there actually is hay in the wagon (surprisingly, we've been on several "hay" rides in the area that did not include hay). Also, the hay ride path is decorated with wooden cutouts of bunnies, bunny houses, eggs, and many other things. After the hay ride, the girls spent some time riding toy tractors and we ate lunch. Since we were eating at an orchard, we had fantastic apples, I topped my hot dog with relish canned at the orchard, and the girls ate apple cider donuts. I am disappointed I could not try any of the pies from the orchard bakery due to my current food restrictions (Baby Anne has a sensitive tummy, so while I'm nursing I have a long list of restrictions). Following lunch, Meg and Clare jumped in a bouncy castle (probably not best to do that right after lunch, but there were no bad results) and then planted flowers and decorated their flower pots with farm stickers.

As you can tell from the squint on Clare's face above, the sun was bright and by this point in the day the girls were getting quite tired. They were ready to go home and I told them we would go home right after we visited the petting barn and hayloft. The moment they saw that hayloft, all their energy returned. My children love playing in hay. They organized all the other children into "hay fight" groups and took turns burying each other (we parents--who are such killjoys--kept reminding the kids not to bury each other completely for fear another child would accidentally jump on the buried child).

The kids would occasionally take time out to pet a chick, duck or bunny. There were also lambs to ooh and aah over,

Even Baby Anne had a great time in the hayloft.

It was a great day. Butler's Orchard came through for us yet again.