Jumpstarting Fall!

Hard to believe but we have been apple and pumpkin picking here in Maryland 4 years in a row. Last year we took a break from our usual Larriland Farms, but decided it is the best place for us. Yes it is busy and not the small personal family orchard experience, but it has great apples, lots of fun for kids, and delicious apple fritters. Had to do a repeat performance of our kids and pumpkins in the wheelbarrow. Still so cute, buy my how they have grown!


We went this year with some dear friends that we see too little of. Mike and John belong to Meredith and Jeff and they are really close to the ages of Bridger and Larsen. It was lots of silliness with the four of them. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get everyone to look at the camera together, but here are some attempts. 

 

The Dads spent much of the day debating how best to make an apple pie. Bake it already, the rest of us just want to eat it!

Here are more annual pics of our adventures while apple picking. We ended up with nearly 30 pounds of apples. We had an apple galette last night. We had pork chops with a delicious sauce with cooked apples in it tonight(Thanks Matt for both!). My job is to look into making applesauce. I think we will be set on apples until at least November!

We went to California!

We are still digging out from our big move and there is no end in sight to the madness with work and two busy kids. I need to get up some pictures of the new house and the hard work we are doing. However, before we get to that I have been remiss about putting up some pictures of our fabulous trip to California. The kids had a wonderful time and it was our first vacation where in general everyone slept well and exhaustion only came from all the fun we were having.

Larsen had lots of fun entertaining Grandy, and we think Grandy had lots of fun too!

We spent one day with the extended Ross clan and enjoyed some pool time and a blonde girls reunion.

 We of course made the pilgrimage to Palo Alto to see our beloved Sonia and Ezra (and their parents). The kids had a blast though photo taking was quite challenging.

We enjoyed some fun pool time and a even better company at a picnic hosted by Uncle Len and Aunt Liz. They were too busy hosting to appear in these pictures, but we really appreciated the opportunity to see many family members. 

 

 Nana took us to Kennedy Park for some fun on the train and the carousel. (This was after some very yummy pancakes at her house!)

 Finally no trip to the Bay Area would be complete without some mingolf at Golf Land. Bridger got to go two times!!

 Some other fun included a trip to Fenton's Creamery after a fun morning at the Lawrence Hall of Science and several trips to the park in Castro Valley for some water play.