Apple Picking Time!!!

As promised by the weatherman, Friday arrived warm and dry. Since the girls only had a half day of school we just couldn't resist the lure of the orchards! Along with Auntie Peggy, we piled in the family bus and headed out into the country. This is a 'traditional' fall destination for us and there was great psychological healing to be had out in Mother Nature recreating comforting routines. Like the annual picture to check how much you've grown..... Catching the surprised look when you realize you've reached a new foot marker! Or the one that leaves Mom wondering just who painted this sign since Julia is 53 inches tall according to her pediatrician? Then there are the traditional shots of Julia scoping out the horses at work... and another shot since we can't leave until she's seen all the teams of draft horses that they have pulling the wagons! Then there is the reason for the trip! Then Peggy and Julia scoped out the progress on the pumpkin harvest! Peeking to see if they could find the one we would want to pick on our return trip in October. Yes, we are going back!! The Red Delicious picking season does not start until October 7th and those are our all time favorite apples from this orchard. Truly comforting is the SMELL wafting out into the orchard emanating from this room in the barn... The cider donuts that these ladies make are TO DIE FOR!!! While their less than healthy fried fat content may actually lead to your premature death from heart disease it is a heavenly moment while consuming one hot from the fryer. In the coolness of the barn's cellar you can take a break with fresh pressed cider and donuts...and we do EVERY time we go :)! But a big part of going to the orchard involves a certain camera crazed Auntie.... who loves taking her nieces around the place and posing them for pictures. We don't complain because these are the kind of memories she records... They would never have done this for me!! Aren't we lucky to have our Auntie Peggy?!?!? Now there were some parts of the day that would best be called "Behind the scenes". You see, Mari, who can read in moving cars, had gotten involved in a book that she just couldn't drag herself away from for very long. So while we walked up and down rows of trees Mari hopped out, pulled one or two apples off the first tree, posed for the obligatory picture and.....went right back to reading! Since there were several varieties of apples to choose from we ended up driving all up and down the orchard to sample and pick different apples but Mari still kept reading! She was so close to the end that she just didn't want to stop reading!!!!! Another 'behind the scenes' shot is of my car after an afternoon in the orchard.. I told you that the day was warm and DRY!!! 'Behind the scenes' shots were not always taken by the adults in our group... this one is courtesy of Mari! She was getting so annoyed at our hi jinks that she snapped a few shots to "prove" how bad we were as subjects. Don't worry, I'm not going to post all 120 pictures we took at the orchard but I'd like to close with just one last picture. As we were packing into the car for the trip home I spied this couple walking hand in hand. I took too long in getting my camera out so they were just at the limit of my zoom causing you lose some of the impact of their age but..... gosh I hope I can still be holding Patrick's hand, enjoying the Indian Summer at an orchard when we are this old!