Saturday: apple picking

Today we went apple picking. It was rather cool, so we didn't stay long. We also got apple cider and apple cider donuts! I'm excited. I may have picked too many apples, but was having such a good time. Ben even switched bags with me so I could fill his. I made a large batch of applesauce this afternoon and there are still a lot of apples left. :)

Here is Ben picking an apple.

Here is the perfect apple Ben found. There's some weird looking guy in the background. Maybe he's stealing apples.

Even Hugh got a Hugh-sized apple.

Saturday: corn maze, apple picking, Castle Panic

This morning we went to the corn maze and apple picking with Aunt C.  It was a beautiful day.  The kids were super excited in the corn maze and doing a great job with taking turns picking a direction...but then above the truck we got lost.  We went round and round until I finally pulled out my phone help us.  Joshua was flagging a bit by the time we actually escaped part one.  Part two went much faster.  Isaac was the main leader, and we examined the picture of the maze better before we went in.  We still got a little stuck in the bottom right section, but once we looked at a picture again we were able to figure out where we were and how to escape.

In the upper peninsula:

Isaac leading the way:

We picked some apples afterwards.  As always, it's easy to get a lot of apples.  Joshua was very vocal about Empire apples being his favorite, but he saw the variety and immediately knew.  (It was a very good apple).  However, I'm also not sure if he remembered from last year or if he just liked the name because of Star Wars.

In the afternoon we played a game called Castle Panic.  It isn't my favorite game, but it was Joshua's turn to pick.  Our castle was almost destroyed when a fortuitous boulder rolled through the middle of our broken castle and killed a bunch of monsters that were about to finish destroying our castle.  At one point after that we had a single castle section and a wall protecting it on one of six sides, which looked a bit ridiculous.  We won in the end with one castle tower and one random wall remaining.

Friday: apple picking

Ben took off work a bit early today and we all went apple picking.  It was a wonderful time to do it.  There were only a few people there...it was cloudy and warm, but not too warm.  They had some wheelbarrows that were very easy to use, so the kids got wheeled around for most of the time.  The only downside was that most of the honeycrisps were already gone, but there were still plenty of good apples.

Isaac had just studied apples in school, so he could tell us things like, "The best golden delicious are the yellowest ones."  We weren't sure what kind(s) to get, so we did a sampling and I think everyone enjoyed how they all tasted so different.

Oh yes, Isaac got a massive hair cut today.  It's a bit shorter than normal, but we went to a different place and I might have given them the wrong number for the cut.  But he suddenly seems to have a bald spot in the back of his head, and we have no idea what would cause it except for him pulling out his hair.  So it needed to be short enough that he couldn't pull.

Joshua didn't really care about picking apples but just wanted to eat his apple.  By the end of the trip most of the skin was off.  He just happily sat there, eating away.

Look!  Ben's here too.

The restaurant wasn't busy at all - we could sit right down - so we ended up eating there.  Joshua loved pointing out that there were airplanes and drinking out of the cup with a straw.  (Usually at restaurants if there's a straw we hold the cup because the positioning isn't very good.  But this time it worked.)

Saturday: roofs and ladders

Well, today was supposed to be a very busy day: roofing in the morning, apple picking in the afternoon, and games at night.

Unfortunately, we didn't end up roofing. The people that we were going to help decided that it was too high and too steep for their comfort. While I'm glad they put our safety first, I'm also sad that we weren't able to help them. I climbed up the ladder for a picture. It was pretty bouncy. I was ok climbing it when I had both hands, but if I had to carry something up there at the same time it would have been rather scary.

So we went apple picking in the morning instead. We picked a lot of apples because I want to make applesauce again. Last years batch lasted until about last month...almost perfect. We also got some donuts (yum) and our yearly squash.

We went a year ago when Hugh was a tiny baby and so he got a tiny apple. He is a year older now and much more active!

Saturday: apples

Today we did apple activties with Clay and Jess.  First we went apple picking, then we found some warm donuts and cider, and after dinner we made apple crisp.  It was a lovely evening.

Saturday: internet

I was going to tell you about apple picking today (complete with pictures) but instead I'll tell you about the internet.

Recorded internet message: "There is a service outage in your area. It should be fixed by 6:43 pm"

What they meant to say: "There is a service outage in your area. It will get worse at 6:43pm. Around 9:30pm it will sometimes be working enough for you to get a few things done if you're patient, but you won't be able to upload pictures."

Legoland, day 2

Thursday

At the restuarant.  It was a buffet style, so there were plenty of choices.  The first day Ben put two tater tots on his plate and Joshua was adamant that he didn't want them again.

We saw a pirate in the lobby.

The dragon at the entrance.

We had our picture taken last time by this octopus too, but both boys were in strollers sleeping.  Joshua did fall asleep in the stroller for about 45 minutes near the end.  It was almost a problem because Isaac started saying his feet hurt.  (They had to share the stroller.)

This lady was by Cypress Gardens; Legoland took them over but left some of the greenery.

Isaac really wanted a picture next to this one.

There was a gigantic banyon tree in the middle of the garden.  They grow roots down from the branches, which then turn into trunks.

After the gardens we started walking back, doing some of the things that the boys wanted to do.  (We did it that way the first day too, because the things they wanted to do had short or no lines.)  Isaac wanted to do a button push game.  They weren't there too long, and then he was bouldering.  He did it twice.

Isaac went on the joust and Joshua and I headed to the carousel for different horses.  He got distracted by the train.

Here's his special bear.

And waving to the kitty cat.

The train distracted him next, so we went on that twice, once with Isaac and Cheryl, before having a treat of apple straws and ice cream, riding the caurosel, and picking out some Legos to bring home.

At the front of the hotel, right before packing up the car.

The trip was a hit.  (Today Joshua wanted to go back to Legoland and we almost had some tears when that wasn't where we were going.)