Apple Picking!

Jared and I went out to Chiles Orchard today with his preschool class.  It was fun to see him with his "students".  A friend of mine (Tara) watched Lydia for me so Jared and I could just go together which was really nice.  It was really fun to have some one on one time with Jared. And Lydia had a great time at her friends house. When I picked Jared up from preschool Tuesday he told me he had a new friend whose name was Mallory.  It was nice to meet her and her parents.  There was also a little boy named Levi who really like Jared.  The weather was perfect and it was such a fun fall activity. We had a little lesson on apples, then took a tractor ride to the fields to pick some apples.  After we found our apples we rode back to the main store area and enjoyed a snack of fresh apple cider and an apple donut.  After our snack Miss Tina had the kids sing a few apple songs and then we read a story together.  It was a lovely morning. Jared's favorite part was the tractor ride of course.

 Jared, Mallory and Levi.  

We could hardly go anywhere at the orchard without Jared insisting we go with Mallory.  She seems like a very sweet little girl. 

Last Saturday our family went out to Carter's Mountain to pick some apples.  I saw online that they were celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday with story time and donuts but when we got there we found out they had decided not to host it.  Such a bummer.  We had been waiting around for awhile and after asking many workers I found someone who actually knew what I was asking about.  After he gave me the disappointing news I went back to Mark, Jared and Lydia to tell them what was up.  He came and found me and gave me a half dozen apple cider donuts for free.  It was nice.  We were really sad the event was canceled.  The orchard is in a beautiful setting and we plan on going back in late October when the Pink Lady Apples come in so we just grabbed a few granny smith apples to bake a pie with. The orchard is right above the Monticello trail I walked with Tara a few weeks back and I know our family will take many walks there.  We got home and baked our pie after naps. I am not a huge pie person (or maybe I just prefer other people's pies) but it was really fun to go pick our own apples and then put them in a pie.  Jared worked hard to help me slice the apples and Lydia helped me pour the spices onto the apple slices.  

Apple/Fall Art projects! 

We are excited to start our Halloween activities.