Fall Adventures: Apple Pickin'

As it's probably become obvious, the kids and I are frequently on our own on recent weekends.  Hopefully, in a month or so that should stop, but lately Craig has been occupied with one of two different jobs.  Since starting the house siding project, Craig has been spending whatever decent-weather free time he has (evenings and weekends) working on it.  He's also been working on a temporary side job with an electrician on some weekends.  So Saturdays and Sundays for us go something like this:  sleep in (about 8:00), get up and have a hot breakfast together, get outside for some fresh air either with a specific destination or just playing outside, home/inside for lunch and nap (I prepare our meals for the upcoming week while the kids nap), outside again after nap if the weather permits, dinner, bath and bedtime.  Usually our outings that involve going some place are in the morning.  We often head to the library on Saturday mornings - usually every other - and I like to at least get out to run around and get their bodies moving if we don't have anything on our agenda.  The kids have plenty of down time in the house to play and read and watch a movie, and I find that their attitudes and sleep rhythms are best if we get outside.  We've been enjoying this routine and the fall activities we've been venturing out for.

 

Today, we visited Erie Orchard to pick some apples. 

It was gorgeous weather again.  A little cooler than yesterday at the butterfly house, which we welcomed happily.

When you visit Erie in the fall, there's a LOT going on up by the barns and store.  Pretty much a full-on festival every weekend.  That's reeeeally not my style...  I prefer quieter visits to farms - u-pick or otherwise.  But the orchards and all other fruit bushes/fields are further to the back of the property.  You have to pay $1 to park, but they give you a card in return that takes a dollar off any purchase you make in the store or for the total price of your picked fruit. 

So we just drove through the crowds and back to the nearly bare orchards.  Every so often a tractor pulling a group on a hayride would come by.  And I think we saw one or two other families sort of nearby... briefly.  But pretty much we had the area we were in to ourselves.  And at our very first stop - at the golden delicious variety - we were lucky enough to have TWO ladders ready and waiting!  I don't think I saw but one other ladder anywhere else.  Lucky us!  The kids each got one.  :)

 

I have a newfound love for golden delicious apples.  Never knew I liked them so much!

 

Love the light this day.

The red delicious apple trees grow lower to the ground, so no ladders were needed.  We only picked a few of these and tried to wash a couple with our water bottles for the kids to sample.  ;)

We finished picking (grabbed a bunch of Granny Smith apples for Craig too) and paid for our pickings.  Then we walked up through all the action briefly on our way to the store.

Inside the store, we watched the cider press in action, selected some freshly made donuts and a gallon of cider and paid for those too.  So glad the line wasn't long inside!

Oh my gosh!  The donuts are phenomenal!!!  REALLY wish we'd gotten more.  I definitely need to get back there again to pick up some more.  :)

Fall Adventures: Butterfly House

The intention this day was to watch the annual monarch release at the butterfly house in Whitehouse.  This event takes place every year in late September and we loved seeing it last year.

When we arrived, however, we must have missed whatever announcement was made about the lack of release, but the buzz around all the visitors was that the release had taken place sort of unannounced a couple weeks prior due to specific temperatures and weather conditions that would have made a later release problematic.

But the place was still pretty packed!  And they had lots to see and do, so it certainly wasn't a wasted trip.

The mini straw "maze" was mostly populated by bigger kids hopping across the tops of the bales so my kids just followed suit.  :)

 

The little fish pond surrounded by pretty rocks and flowers is always a hit.  The property is really very beautiful.

This was hilarious.  I just wanted a quick picture on the butterfly bench but neither child wanted to smile, so they took turns trying to hold the other ones head high and/or force their face into a smile.  Cracked me up.  :)  Sophie looks like she's strangling Will!

The butterfly house must have taken on some reptilian friends!  I don't remember ever seeing snakes or iguanas or lizards there before but they were there today!  Will even got to hold a couple snakes outside.  He thought that was soooo cool and Sophie even took an interest after seeing the fearlessness of her brother.  :)

Checking out some others.

 

Since we opted out of a corn maze this day, we decided to pay the entrance fee and head indoors to visit the butterflies.  (Normally, the release event - outdoors - is free.)

This one was Will's favorite.

 

LOTS of chrysalides!

Sophie carried around the butterfly identification card to try and match what she saw to its picture.

 

Obviously, the kids and I know not to touch a butterfly's wings, but I was able to get one to step right onto my finger by placing my index finger just in front of its legs.  Cool!

 

Just as easily, our fluttery friend transferred to Will's finger too.  :)

This guy was in a glassed habitat right by the entrance/exit.

On the way out, we stood inside one of the greenhouse type tents (sweating our butts off, I might add) to score a balloon animal from the friendly balloonist in there.  Next to him, there was a lady wearing a turtleneck AND sweater while painting the childrens' faces too!  No way were we doing that as we were heading home for lunch and nap.  ;)  But I can only imagine how hot she must have been!  Although I'm sure it was chillier in the early morning, it doesn't really make sense why they'd set these things up in the greenhouse on a warm day??

Anyway, the kids picked out their balloon colors and selected their animals.  Will chose a red dog and Sophie a pink butterfly.

 

Just like at the Fresh Beat concert, Soph waited with her hands behind her back.  Stinkin' cute!

The morning continued to warm and we were soooo grateful for the water bottles we'd brought along.  Even on colder days, we NEVER travel anywhere without them because the kids are inevitably thirst after every outing.  Always.

What a cool place.  If ever we decided to switch to using fresh cut Christmas trees in place of artificial, I would definitely love to visit their Christmas tree farm across the street from the butterfly house (same family/owners) too.