apples and pumpkins

I just love the weather here. Seriously, it can be rainy and dreary all morning- and then the sun comes out and dries it all up! Saturday was one of those rainy days- in fact according to the weather report it was supposed to rain ALL day. I was kinda bummed about it because Saturdays are our only day to go to the pumpkin patch. And I've just been itching to go!

That morning it rained and rained. We went to T's soccer practice and poor guy had to run around in that cold rain for an hour...(he didn't seem to mind too much though!) while Charlotte and I huddled in our tent shade and watched. It was actually kind of miserable for us girls ;) We don't like being cold and wet!

We came home and put the kiddos down for naps, and while they were sleeping something amazing happened. The sun burst out through the clouds and all those gorgeous fall colors were vivid once again! Our apartment was flooded with yellow sunshine, so I said to Jonathan "We are so going to the pumpkin patch when they wake up!"

Before we got our pumpkin patch on we headed south to pick up our apple order. There's a family that lives in a big yellow house on a hill out in the country, and they have animals and a garden and a food storage shed and all that. My dream life, basically. But what this family is famous for is their homemade apple cider. Every year they order a ton (literally, a ton in weight) of apples- and what they get is over 20 different varieties. They throw them all together into their antique cider press from the 1700's and out comes the most delicious, most pure cider you've ever tasted. They have a handful of people that buy apples from them at a steal of a deal, and I was so grateful that she let us in on that. I'm so excited to make applesauce with my 40 lbs. of fresh apples! We also bought a few gallons of that delicious cider. Sooooo good.

The best part was when Jonathan turned the press by himself. It was very cool to see how actual cider is made. The quartered apples get thrown in, core and all, into the press then mulched up  into a bucket. That bucket is then placed under the presses thingy and it squeezes all the juice out!

Talmage immediately initiated himself into their clan of children. It was so cute how they filled up the buckets of apples for us. Granted, a lot of them had worm holes and bruises but oh well :) Nothing says organic better than wormy apples, right?

The pumpkin patch was so much fun, too. I loved that it was out in the country and that there were soooo many pumpkins. Plus, it was free! Every pumpkin cost a dollar regardless of size, so we kinda went crazy. I have no idea what I'm gonna do with all these pumpkins we brought home. Anyway, the kids loved it!

^^^So I took this picture with my SLR, but Jonathan- standing behind me- took one of his own with his phone. Um, his is clearly better. Haha.

See? Phone: 1. Camera: 53 or so...

There were also duck races and a tiny corn maze for kids, along with a hayride and other fun things! We definitely want to go to another one soon. There are so many in this area its hard to choose!

 Unfortunately, I had $15 cash in my back pocket, and it must have fallen out while we were taking pictures. I hate when that happens! I always seem to lose things in the dumbest ways...finding green cash in a massive pumpkin patch of green and orange...yeah, pretty much impossible! Just like that time when I lost my brand new white iphone in the white sand on a long stretch of beach (it was truly a miracle when we found it). Anyway. Whoever found it eventually had a lucky day at the pumpkin patch! They can just consider it our generous donation to the patch for having such a good time ;)