Sunday, September 23, 2007

Apple Ridge Orchard

Who can resist a visit to an apple orchard when the leaves start turning colors and the days get cooler? Visions of apple pie and caramel apples are hard to resist so we spent a beautiful, cool, crisp evening at a local apple orchard last Saturday. We went with our great friends Julie, Sarah and Mason C*. The evening started with a wagon ride pulled by a tractor up a steep dirt road to the orchard. At the top of the hill, we entered a corn maze for kids. They had a great time running through the maze and figuring their way out. They would giggle when they made a wrong turn and Emily was so helpful keeping all the kids close by so we didn't lose anyone. When they were done, Emily wanted to do it again and she did it without making a wrong turn!
Next we picked APPLES! They had many varieties but we picked our favorites - Honeycrisp (Minnesota's official state fruit and great for eating) and Harrelsons (tart and great for pies!). The kids had a ball picking the apples. Here's Emily and Sam choosing only the best apples they could find.
The apples looked so great, Emily couldn't wait to sample them.
The apples were so delicious even Benny had to have a taste (well, not really but cute picture huh!).
Emily and Sam are very intent on eating those apples. Emily ate hers down to the seeds.
I couldn't resist posting this picture of Sam wandering through the orchard with a bag on his head. This is so Sammy!
After we picked our apples, we headed to the pumpkin patch. Emily chose a pumpkin for Brad to make a pumpkin pie (Emily and I do not like pumpkin pie but Brad and Sam do. I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins though and they were DELICIOUS!!!!!). This pumpkin had so much flesh it was amazing. It was about 2 inches thick. Good thing we did not buy it for a jack o' lantern.
Before we got back on the wagon, we stopped to see the farm animals. Here is Emily trying to feed the llamas some grass.
Sam liked the bunnies and chickens.I love this picture of all four kids watching the llamas and sheep.


Ben was such a good baby. He just loves to be part of the action and do what everyone else is doing. Brad was my hero and he carried Ben in the Baby Bjorn but near the end of the fun Brad's back was killing him (Ben is about 19 pounds and quite a heavy load).
As the sun was sinking, it got quite chilly so we loaded back onto the wagon to pay for the apples and pumpkin and get a treat. Our tickets to the orchard included a caramel apple for each of the kids and they were delicious!!!!!
Emily had a hard time sharing her apple with Mom and Dad because she liked it so much (but so did we and we were too cheap to buy one for ourselves for $3).
It was a lovely evening. The kids had fun. We spent time with great friends and made fun memories. Here are a few random pictures (as if I didn't already post enough :-).
I love this sweet baby!
Sammy had a great time - don't let the grouchy face fool ya!

4 comments:

Emma said...

The honeycrisp are so good. But expensive around here, as with most things. Is picking them cheaper? Sounds like a fun day!

Angela said...

What a fun day! I wish I could have joined in the fun!

Anonymous said...

Mmmm...those caramel apples look good! Those are some of my favorite treats ever. Especially when they have chocolate drizzled on them too, or rolled in brown sugar.

Vicki said...

I love the pictures. It looks like such a great time. I've never made pumpkin pie or muffins from an actual pumpkin before (it's always been a store-bought can of pumpkin), so I'll have to try. Those apples looked so good and from the pictures I can just smell the autumn air! Thanks for the blog!