My favorite time of the year is fall. I love the colors (at least for decorating since we don't see much in the way of outdoor colors changing around here) and I love that the weather starts to cool down. Although I find the holidays to be very stressful, I really love the string of holidays that fall brings on.
A few years ago our good friends introduced us to apple-picking. It is so much fun. And its all about the experience. Picking your own fruit, allowing the kids to participate in that process, seeing all the apple trees... I love thinking back on the years before, watching how the kids have grown, realizing how our experience is a little different every year because of their ages.
We skipped last year so the last time we went Ethan was only a few months old, being toted around in a carrier.
His experience this year was all about throwing apples. Yep, throwing them. Yanking them off the trees and chucking them. Thank goodness the people working there didn't see him because they would not have been happy. Ethan on the other hand was very happy with his apple throwing experience.
(My favorite pic of him, but whatever that back hand is doing really bugs me!) :)
Emma did pretty good. A little whiney, but at least she tried picking apples this year.
We even washed up a couple apples for the kids to eat right then and there...
Daniel brought a water bottle to keep the kids cool, especially Ethan. Here you see him spraying poor Ethan, and Emma was quite amused by it.
I love this shot of my big-little girl. Sigh....
And here is a shot of our $50 bag of apples, as Daniel calls it.
He was a little gripey about how much the "experience" cost us, especially with the price of gas to get us there. Okay, and the apples you pick may not be the best tasting apples ever. But seriously, its about the experience and spending time with good friends.
The day also involves having a picnic at a nearby park. This year we saw bear droppings on the way in (and bear tracks on the way out too). But really we are in a rather safe picnic area where there are a fair amount of other people.
What really struck me this year was how Ethan was finally a part of the kids' group.
On his own he wanted to sit with the kids and even ate with them as a group. The last time we were together was at 4th of July and I remember saying that I was looking forward to Ethan being part of the group and not so separated by age. Well, it finally happened this year. At least it was a start.
Our picnic was cut short by the thunder that continued to work its way toward us. We knew the comfortable weather we were experiencing was too good to be true. When the thunder got too close for comfort, we quickly snapped some shots, packed up and were out of there.
Our last stop was the Wood Shed.
The oldest, kindest couple owns this little spot where several kinds of apples are sold and they allow you to taste the apples. My favorite this year was the Pink Pearl. Tart, but I liked it.
And around the shed is this beautiful garden where we snapped some pics of the kids.
Look at these beautiful girls of ours:
And to end all these fun pics, here's a shot of my kids. How sad when this is the BEST shot I can get of my kids together.
We tried. Maybe next year will be the year for cooperation.
Oh, we had such a good time. I am so glad we went. What a great way to kick off the fall season!
Hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend too! Next up, first day of school pics. Yikes!
