One day, after Christmas break but before the week of snow days, we had some nice, sunshiney weather and we were itching to get outside. I had recently overheard some of our friends talking about all the pecans on their property and so I quickly texted to ask if we could come pick a few. "Take as many as you'd like!" they said. "Seriously! Take them all!"

I can't even begin to tell you how many pecans there were...SO many! Lots and lots of pecan trees, all that had dropped piles and piles of yummy pecans. The kids were super excited to find them and pick them up.

Surprisingly, both kids really liked eating the pecans right out of the shell! I expected them to turn their noses up to the idea, but they loved cracking them and picking the fresh nut out.

I'm not sure what official pecan pickers use to hold their haul, but we brought a car wash bucket and a sand pail with us and they both worked just fine. Filled 'em right up!

After collecting pecans, we threw sticks onto the existing stick pile and then the kids had fun climbing up this fallen tree branch.

This pecan grove is situated near the river, just on the other side of a levee. We climbed to the top of the levee hill to the gravel road and something about the time of day and the sunshine and the quietness made it all just so peaceful.

We didn't last too long because of the cold, but I sure hope it's something we can do again sometime. I love making these kinds of memories with my family!