Apple Picking Time!

I love fall!  My absolute favorite season by far!  The best weather, colors, clothes, food, etc.  It's that time when I can start busting out the crochet wear like hats, scarves, and sweaters, and I can start making more ;-)

It's also apple picking season.  

After weeks of my daughter being sick (the one very big flaw of the season is the constant colds, flu, and stomach bugs) and then passing her lovely cold onto me, we finally got to go apple picking this week!

We went with friends to a new orchard that we'd never tried before, and were the only ones there  (one of the benefits to going during the week).  It was a gorgeous day, though a little windy, but perfect fall weather.

                                               

Love watching the kids walking through the orchard, looking for the perfect trees.

 My little "apple" wanted to wear the apple hat that I made her two years ago.  Good thing I made it big with some stretch.  It still fits and she looks adorable picking apples in it.  I may be biased though.

 There were low enough branches for the kids to pick their own, and my daughter helped me pick a bunch to fill our bag.

Here we are trying to find the best apples without "yucky spots", as my daughter says.

 Love this picture of my daughter in the apple tree.  She's also sporting a fall themed capped sleeve cardigan with corn and pumpkin buttons that I made for her.

My cutie pie attempting to lift our haul of apples.  Boy was it a long walk back carrying that!  She decided to just carry the apple she was eating ;-)

She found the "perfect" pumpkin and just had to have it.  It has a bunch of little bumps that look like witch warts, so I think we're going to paint it green and make a witch this year.  For all my crafty abilities, I was never good at pumpkin carving.

It was a great day with friends, and we now have a giant 1/2 bushel of apples to make all of those recipes I have been pinning on Pinterest for the past two weeks.  This weekend we'll start with caramel apple cookie bars, crock pot apple oatmeal, and pork tenderloin with apple slices.
Perhaps I'll share our baking adventures here.....