Apple Pickin'!

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law Melissa invited me and the kids to go with them to Candy Apple Farms for Bailey's preschool apple-picking field trip. I am so glad she did because it really was a lot of fun.

They started off with teaching everyone about the different varieties of apples, how you can tell them apart, and what they were good for (pies, cider, eating plain, etc).

Then they showed everyone how they made apple cider - Aaron LOVED this part:

The Apple Press

Loading it up

Aaron watching the action

The juice being pressed from the apples...

Aaron decided he wanted a front-row seat

Now Aaron either just really likes apples, or he is destined to be an apple farmer because even after they were all done and wrapping it up, Aaron was still there....I don't think I have ever seen him stand in one spot for that long ever!

Unwinding the press

Then the owners kindly gave everyone a nice sample of true apple cider, and it was definitely delicious! Aaron wanted seconds:

Then the time came that we were all waiting for....Apple Picking!!! They gave us an apple picker lined with a soft sponge (so the apple wouldn't get bruised while falling into the cradle) and a large bag to carry our apples in. Here is Aaron all ready to pick some apples:

"Look Ma'! I'm a country boy!"

The cradle had a rake-like claw on the end of it making it easy to snag an apple on the tree. One you snagged it, you'd give it a light pull and the apple would gently fall into the cradle and onto the spongy bed. Then you would take the apple out of the cradle and gently put it into your bucket (Aaron had trouble with the "gently" part...)

Gettin' some apples

After about 20 minutes and about 15lbs of apples, I decided to call it a day....(and mind you, I was carrying around 15lb baby Sunny on my hip, in a sling of course, at the same time!) We would have stayed longer to pick more apples since we were having so much fun, but I'll admit, I was already wondering what I was going to do with all of these when we got home:

Aaron was proud of his apples

See, I promised Sunny was there with us! Here she is all buckled up and ready to go after apple pickin'. There's the bin of pumpkins in the background!

After a long day of apple picking me, Melissa, our friend Ashley, and all of our kids all went out for pizza. The kids did surprisingly well at their own table:

And after we got home....the moment Aaron had been waiting for all day:

And the moment mommy has been waiting for....homemade apple pie! To be continued.....

Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me!....at Krispy Kreme....

Not too long ago I found out Krispy Kreme was having national Talk Like A Pirate Day where if you went in to a participating location and said any pirate phrase such as "Arrrrr!" or "Ahoy Matey!" you would be awarded a free glazed donut! Yum! But THEN, come to find out that if you dared to dress in full pirate attire and walk into Krispy Kreme you would get a full dozen glazed donuts. Now, I'm not a huge Krispy Kreme fan, but Matt is quite fond of them. However, having said that, I AM quite fond of free stuff - and if I have to suck up my pride for some free donuts then so be it! Pirate-Suit up! (Sorry - a "How I Met Your Mother" reference)

I figured it would be a fun experience for Aaron too so I decided to take him with me - my mini-pirate. It's funny....although neither of us owned a single piece of "pirate attire" I managed to scrounge up these little numbers:

 

 Being that it was Aaron's first time at Krispy Kreme, he was so amazed by the donuts on the conveyor belt....although, strangely he kept saying we were at McDonald's (or in Aaron's words: Hic'Donald's)....I swear he gets out more than that:

"Yay! I love Mc'Donald's!" oh...wait....

When we got to the register the cashier said "Looks like we've got a couple of pirates here! So that'll be 2 then?" and took off to the back. Thinking she meant 2 glazed donuts I was perfectly happy since seeing Aaron was having such a good time. However to my amazement she came back with 2 dozen free donuts!

Enjoying some Krispy Kreme!

 And then last, but not least - I finally got him to say....:

"Arrrrrrrrrrr!"

What an awesome day! We'll have to do this again sometime!