Apple Picking

Well, we've created a new family tradition. Lyman Orchards in Middlefield CT is our new favorite Fall destination. We headed out there with some of our favorite people last week to pick all the apples we could carry.



The trees were loaded with so much fruit, even Miles could reach "perfect" apples and the kids could be discerning about what they picked.





I don't know which Lucy did more of, eating or picking. She was in search of the "most beautiful magical apple for Daddy", but every time she thought she had a winner, she would take a bite to make sure. She'd then look at the apple and realize it now had a big bite out of it and the hunt would start anew.



We filled four large canvas bags with several varieties of the yummiest, crunchiest apples in the world, which made me happier with each added pound. I then had to haul this stinkin' wagon full of apples and Miles back up the giant hill to have them weighed. The happiness started to fade about halfway up.



Picking is hard work for a kid used to a life of leisure (strollers, shopping carts, and naps).



Lucy finally found what she was looking for! She hung on to this bad boy for a good half an hour, refusing to set it down with the others for fear of getting it mixed up in the lot. She even held it in the car for quite a ways, but once hunger started to set in on the hour long drive home, she decided, "Heck with Dad, he can have a banana."



We headed to the pumpkin patch next, (after unloading our mountain of apples into the car) and searched high and low for the perfect carving pumpkin.



We gave up about 4 fields from this photo and decided to buy one from the store near the entrance to the orchards. Jenny did find a lovely one here though, which she barely rescued from being rolled down the hill by a little friend.



Thirty lbs of apples later (plus a giant pumpkin, some apple butter, and the best donuts in the WORLD), we headed for home. Now we're eating apples in everything and I'm in heaven.

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