Milburn's and Pumpkins!

While Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle G were visiting, we headed back to Milburn's to get some apple cider donuts and pumpkins to carve. We stocked up on some more apples, too--oh my gosh. Fresh apples from the orchard is seriously one of my very, VERY favorite things about fall.

We only managed to carve one of the pumpkins so far--J and R carved this while home waiting for Hurricane Sandy; RUS was too busy doing other things (reading books with me, watching Bob the Builder) and didn't end up carving that day. We're thinking we might make his a "Thanksgiving" pumpkin and carve a turkey in it now that Halloween is over.

J and R also decorated the back of her pumpkin by adding eyes with toothpicks and scooped-out pumpkin rind, and coloring on them with marker. ICK!

Delaware Football

We bought tickets for UD's Homecoming game versus Rhode Island in a battle between the two smallest states. We had a blast at the game with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle G, who came down for the weekend. Here we are in the pre-game tent enjoying a buffet meal and really loud music from a DJ as well as the marching band.

The kids got to meet Baby Blue up close and personal! The official mascot is YouDee, who we didn't actually see at the game, or at least, I didn't, but Baby Blue was all over the place.

Weekend in the Poconos

The weekend of RUS's birthday, we headed up to the Poconos with Grammie and Grampy. It was a beautiful weekend and we had the most lovely time--cool, crisp weather, trees changing color and all kinds of leaves falling on the ground. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Grammie and Grampy took the kids for the afternoon while J and I went on a hike at nearby Bushkill Falls. Here's the animal taxidermy set-up, just after you purchase tickets but before you walk into the hiking area. J wanted a picture of the coyote and I agreed to pose.

This scenic overlook on the Delaware Valley was breathtaking. Of course my camera does not nearly capture how vibrant the colors and scenery were.

On the way home (about a 2.5-3 hour drive), J remembered that there was a vegan bakery in Bethlehem, PA, so when we passed by Bethlehem, we took a quick detour and stocked up on goodies at this bakery. I am not kidding when I say that the treats at this bakery were 100 times better than goodies I have gotten at just about any other bakery, ever. They were amazing. Worth driving 2 hours to go visit again, for sure. Maybe for J's birthday??

Apple Picking--2012 Edition

I really look forward to apple picking each year. This year all the apples were ripening earlier than usual because we had such a mild winter and spring, so a lot of things are already ready for picking. It happened to be an absolutely glorious day--we have had such lovely weather the last few weeks! I'm so glad we've been able to soak it up.

And what are we going to do with all the apples we picked? Make pie, of course!

Scarecrow Craft

R and I made this scarecrow craft that I found on one of my favorite craft inspiration sites, The Crafty Crow. Everything on this scarecrow was decided by R except that I insisted that we had to fasten the arms and legs with paper fasteners rather than glue so that they would move--she wanted to glue them together. But I put my foot down on that one, especially after I made J go to Joann's specifically for these fasteners!

R wanted the scarecrow to have a dress, and she mandated for me what color paper I should use to help make the arms and hands (I did those, but only after she told me what to do). She picked everything else out, including cutting the stripes for the scarecrow's dress and gluing them on all by herself. 

Fall Foliage Walk

We took the kids on a hike yesterday to see more leaves changing color. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get good pictures of foliage when it's far away (many of the trees were really high) and we spent more time looking at leaves on the ground or, when there were gusts of wind, watching them drift lazily down from the trees. But I did snag a few good pictures of J and the kids.

Apples, Apples, Apples!

You GUYS. I am SO EXCITED that it is fall. I cannot even tell you. I absolutely adore the transition from summer to fall and we were so excited to celebrate the first weekend of apple picking at our local orchard by picking some fresh Gala apples--I know we'll make it back out there at least one more time before Halloween to get more apples. Maybe with Grammie and Grampie in tow next time.

And of course one of the kids' favorite things to do is get photo ops with the scarecrow and the picture cut-outs.

Here's RUS with the scarecrow . . .

and then here's R with brown pigtails . . .
and now blonde pigtails!

Apple Picking (an oldie from September!!!)

Back in September Grammie and Grampie took R apple picking at the orchard near us. They had a BLAST, especially because they went before all the Halloween festival stuff was put out so it wasn't crowded and this orchard is awesome--there is so much to do all around the grounds!
R's favorite activity, it seems, was running from one picture cut out board to another!
J and I kept meaning to go to the orchard ourselves but it wasn't in the cards this year. We can, of course, still go to the orchard but there are no more U-Pick Apples and the Fall Festival ends on Halloween (today!)