Fall Is Here

The Fall season arrived with wonderful weather and beautiful changing colors of the leaves. We took the opportunity to take Erik along with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Katy up the hills to the apple orchards. It's our little family tradition, even when it was just the two of us, Mummy & Daddy used to go by ourselves or with friends or with friends and their kids! Hee Hee! However, its always special to share our tradition with family.

Mummy prepared Erik early morning. Telling him that we will be sitting in the car with Grandma and Grandpa and Daddy & Mummy will be taking him to see lots of pumpkins, apples, apple tree, pigs, goats, cows, etc. (petting zoo animals) So I think he was pretty jazzed and excited since he behaved very well in the car for the 40 minute ride (thanks to DVD of course!)

We reached our first Apple Orchard and it was a field of pumpkins! WhooHoo! Erik ran downhill towards the pumpkin patch and wanted to touch them one by one. :) At school, they have a gigantic pumpkin sitting on the outside of the school and every morning, our little Erik will be sure to say 'Good morning, pumpkin' and hug it (and sometimes kiss it) and give it a little "knuckle". So for him to see a field of pumpkins of all sizes, it was pretty amazing. He also got to see horses and ponies. Loved climbing the fence and looking at them. He also tried out the "walking beam", basically it was just a long log on the ground to seperate the pumpkins and help it not roll around the grounds but Erik decided it was a walking beam instead :o) hee hee.

Second Apple Orchard really wasn't much a kid-friendly place. However, Grandparents wanted to look and try a few things. Got ourselves an Apple Fritter and Apple Strudel to share and taste. Mmmmm! Yummy! Daddy was taking care of Erik while Mummy got to relax a bit (back was hurting from posing Erik and holding him to see the animals). SIGH!

Third Apple Orchard, ah, this is Daddy's usual spot every year for his Tri-Tip sandwich. They have a great little pumpkin patch and petting zoos and tire swings. What's not to love? This year, the farm even had a country band and a clown (eh, kinda scares Mummy...but we just avoided the that area). Erik got to play "Peek-A-Boo" in the pumpkin patch and also got to play with "sticks", as in the pumpkin plants LOL! This is the place where we do our "Fall" portraits. Daddy would set up the area with lots of pumpkins big and small and just take candid shots. Then we went to the picnic table and ate a good lunch. Some was homemade (Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma) and Mummy & Daddy bought some stuff too including Blueberry Pie and Peach Pie (non-apple for a different flavor). Erik got to play a little air guitar as the band was playing...then he fell asleep :o) hee hee

Fourth Apple Orchard, by this time, it was already well in the late afternoon and our Erik only got a quick 45-min catnap! We lasted this long with a Toddler. Pat on the back! This orchard was just adjacent to the other farm but we drove in there and here...our little Farmer Erik decided to PICKED two apples off the trees! Daddy posed him on top to "pretend" for a picture moment...but um...no pretend here for Erik! Then it dawned on him...Apple Tree = Tree with Apples on top. His eyes widen in amazement that he figured out where apples come from. Our Erik then began to go from tree to tree pointing to the top and shouting out with glee "Apples!" He was so proud of himself that he wouldn't let anybody have his 2 apples :o) So Cute!

Then, Grandpa Tom was disappointed with the orchard. There was nothing worth noting, nothing good to sell. He was pretty much "appled-out". However, he saw the sign across..it said "Organic Apples". Therefore, one last apple orchard to visit. We all crossed the road to take a look. Got a few more photos in. Erik got to run around some more in nice open space with fresh crisp air. We weren't going to buy anything but the bakery lured us in. We were told an award blue-ribbon pie is here and that we must try it. SOLD! Plus Grandma Katy loves pumpkin pie and she hasn't had her share yet. So we got our last 2 slices of pies, Blackberry-Apple Sour Cream Pie A La Mode and Pumpkin Pie. Our calories intake are way up already...but we didn't care (for today).

Erik LOOOOOOOVED these 2 pies! He ate the ice cream. He ate the apple pie. He even ate the pumpkin pie! AND He demanded Grandpa Tom to slice fresh apples for him. He ate ONE whole apple by himself for the entire day. Absolutely surprised us! We finished off our FINAL desserts (6 slices of pastries for the 4 adults in one-day, crazy!)...and off to home we go! Erik fell asleep in the car in dreamland for a full 1.5 hour!