Carter Mountain Orchard

Picking apples in the mountains...is there anything more "fall-like" than that?  In Charlottesville, there is an amazing orchard that also sells to-die-for apple cider and apple cider donuts.  I think we made the 2 hour trip just for the donuts, honestly, because there were no apples to be picked!!

Thankfully, Colin had fun looking!

Only rotten apples on the ground :(

We found an apple to pick, but it turned out to be rotten too!

We all enjoyed the donuts, though!

One of the other apple patrons brought his gorgeous Great Dane with him...yeah, we had to get a picture!

Surrey Ferry and Pumpkin Picking

A boat ride, feeding birds, running around a field, and eating treats...yeah, we pretty much rock at combining  a child's favorite activities into one outing!  

To get from Williamsburg to Surrey, you have to take a ferry and cross the James River.  If I were from Surrey (which has nothing and requires driving or ferrying to go to the grocery store), this would drive me nuts because it takes at least a half hour to do if you hit the ferry just as it is loading...otherwise it can take an hour.  A bridge would really be more efficient!  But since we don't live in Surrey, we love to take the ferry and Colin loved it too!       

Seriously, he was just annoyed that he had to stop playing to take a picture!

Just like many years ago when we each had fewer or no children, we went with the Crawfords on our expedition.  Kelly was behind the camera and I wish I got at least one picture with her!  Darn!

2008

2012

After our trip to the Arboretum, Colin was familiar with pumpkins and how much fun they are to throw and play with...he just couldn't figure out why all of these were still attached to the ground!

A free pumpkin!

The Burg

Kevin and I are just a little crazy.  We thought we'd take a week long trip with a toddler and a very pregnant mama (35 weeks...now 36!).  All those things considered, though, we had a great time revisiting one of our favorite places in the world - Williamsburg!!  

Oh, the Burg!

We have REALLY missed Williamsburg and were so excited to find a great deal on a hotel and on flights (so glad our Lufthansa miles finally did something for us!).  We did all of our favorite things, took long naps, saw friends, and slept in every morning (thank you time change!!).  Such a great trip!

We were so excited that our good friends the Crawfords came down from DC to hang out with us for the weekend.  We took the kids to the park, let the kids run around Colonial Williamsburg (CW), ate BBQ, rode the ferry to Surrey, and picked pumpkins...all in 24 hours!  

Have you been to Williamsburg?  Do yourself a favor and go...either in the spring when the baby lambs are born at CW, in the fall when the leaves are changing, or at Christmas time for the Grand Illumination celebration.  I wish we could pick Williamsburg up and drop it just a little closer to home - I'd live there forever!

Below are some pics from our walks around CW

Colin chasing Abby and losing!  He had so much fun playing with her!

Breaking in to the Governor's Mansion.

The little love birds

Throwing rocks

Colin was so enamored with Abby...I couldn't resist turning this one sepia!

I was dying over this tree...look at that vibrant color!

Playing on the well

So beautiful!!

Dallas Arboretum

Do any of you have friends that you feel you kind of take advantage of?  My friend Kaity is kind of like that. She has a pass to everything cool here is Dallas and kindly takes me with her.  She also watches Colin when I go to the doctor.  She won't let me pay full price when I buy one of her cute slips that she sells (check them out!).  She gives me fashion advice (I am always in need of help!) and invites me to the pool in the summer.  

I am so behind in this friendship!!  I try to keep up by baking her things and watching her little cuties when she needs me, but seriously...free entrance to the arboretum (valued at $15) or a plate of cookies?  Arg!

Okay...enough on that!

The other day Kaity took Colin and me to the Arboretum and the fall decorations were so gorgeous!

Colin and Sophie had a blast picking up all the small pumpkins and sitting on the big ones!

Colin insisted that this was a ba-ball (baseball)

Love these kiddos!

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair...

For those of you outside the great state of Texas, you may not be familiar with The Texas State Fair.

It is actually quite famous.

You see, every year they have the most amazing fried food competitions that people like Michelle Obama would LOVE to shut down if only she could.

But fried food is bigger than the First Lady in this great state!

Every year we attend to check out the exhibits, laugh at the white trash missing teeth but buying $5000 massage chairs, and eat the latest and greatest fried concoctions.

It's the BEST!

Ah...the choices!

 (prices in tickets not $$)

Enter Fried Cookie Dough...delicious but very rich!

Now, Kevin and I have never gone on any of the rides before because, well, they make me sick...but I got the brilliant idea that Colin needed to enjoy his first ride this year.

IT WAS A TOTAL SUCCESS!!

We weren't sure how it would go and how Colin would react to the log ride, but it went great...see for yourself!

Don't you love their faces?

Enjoying a $7000 massage chair.

The children's barn

Sitting on his tractor throne

Waiting for another ride...the helicopter!

He had so much fun!

Applesaucin'

Last Saturday we made applesauce ALL BY OURSELVES!!

(Well, not completely, of course!  We had all the knowledge and equipment passed on from Kevin's mom that proved invaluable!)

We started out with 28 quart jars...and ended up making 48!  

Holy cow that was exhausting!

This is what 90lbs of gala and golden delicious apples look like.

Washing the apples...

Cooking...

and mashing the apples.

Stirring the goods!

Canning the applesauce.

Colin's idea of the greatest day? Sleep in, stay in pajamas all morning, watch TV, and play with the iPad...consider it done, my son!  Anything to keep you away from the dangers of a crazy kitchen and boiling apples!

Not even close to done!

  

 We started at 7am and finished around 12:30pm.  With Kevin acting as head chef and me as his little sous chef, we were quite the team!  Neither time nor stove space were wasted until we were finished.

And now we have our year supply of applesauce :)

YUM!