Hello Des Moines - Center Grove Orchard

We made our first stop on our way from South Dakota to Virginia in Des Moines. We hung out with the grandparents, and spent most of our time at my sister's farm. M could live out there with his cousins and their chickens. He loves the freedom he gets when we spend the night there and pretty much ignores dear old mom and dad. They have fun hay bales to hop along, and old barn to explore, chickens, tractors, and a huge garden. I have this image of M standing at the coop staring at the chickens while we loaded the car to leave. It was the perfect description of his visit there. I later asked what he was doing and he said he was waiting on the chickens to lay an egg. Such patience.




After my sister's house, we made a trip to Center Grove Orchard and I had forgotten how much there is to do there. We hadn't been since before 2020. We did Howell's the year before and loved it, but Center Grove just has so much to do! The boys loved the slide into the corn pool, picking apples in the orchard, picking out some small pumpkins(gourds) to take to VA and riding the hay ride. We also tried the new zipline and fed a few animals. M loved the pedal tractors and the jumping pillow, but X was not a fan. He got knocked over hard, and was all done. Sometimes its tough being 2! You can save a few dollars by ordering tickets online, and 2 and under are free. 












EZ and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary at Hello Marjorie and the hidden speakeasy that it holds. They had incredible specialty drinks for the spooky season and we had such a fun time. We later ended up forgetting to tell each other happy anniversary on our actual day while we were each in 2 different states and in the process of moving. Since we're celebrating our anniversary with an extended vacation around the US, I guess that's ok.

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