Apples, Apples, Everywhere!

The boys and I went to the apple orchard yesterday morning with my Mom. It was a beautiful day for it! The sun was shining, bright blue sky, and the perfect temps.

Charlie and Sam, who love anything that is mechanical and resembles a vehicle, were absolutely entranced by the chance to ride on a tractor. The tractor pulled us up into the grove of trees, where we were dropped off with bags to use for picking. Evan, who relishes his annual trip to the orchard, was an awesome apple picker. It was Charlie and Sam's first trip though, so we had to give them some training. Charlie picked up on things right away, and did a great job filling his bag to the top. Sammy was typical Sammy, and was way more interested in eating than working. He wanted to grab every apple off the ground at first, but once I finally broke him of that bad habit, he started picking apples off the tree and taking a bite out of each one before he put them in the bag. I finally gave up, cleaned off an apple for him, and he just wandered around near us eating away.

The orchard had a huge playground, and we let them run around there, while we paid. We got some cider and some jam too, and some of the MOST delicious homemade cherry cola to drink on the way home. It was a wonderful way to spend a fall day.

In the afternoon, Evan and I used our apple machine to core and skin 20 quart bags of apples, which are now in my deep freeze, waiting to be made into yummy treats. I love that he is at an age where he is an enthusiastic helper! I also made two huge batches of apple sauce, one with cinnamon, one without.

Now that I have homemade ketchup, applesauce, spaghetti sauce, pickles, and canned apples and tomatoes put up, I feel like I am ready for winter. Bring on the blizzard!!