Apple Picking at Wellwood Orchards, 10/11/09

I love apple picking.

My Dad used to take me every year when I was younger, and it's always been a tradition I knew I would continue with my own children. Autumn is my favorite time of year, and being out in nature, with the crisp, cool air uniquely smelling of fall and the gorgeous views... Well, it's just incredible.

Watching the leaves turn around you as mother nature begins her preparations for the deep freeze puts things into perspective and reminds you that the old adage "This, too, shall pass" is not just a silly phrase.... And yet, while life continues to move along, with so many things changing, and my little bend continues to grow "bigger and bigger each day" (as she would say!) , some things will be the same, year after year.

We went to Wellwood Orchards last year and absolutely loved it. With all they had to offer- the u-pick apples, pumpkins, the petting zoo, wonderful views, hayrides, freshly made cider doughnuts and various other goodies... It was a no-brainer that we go back there again this year.

It was a chilly, overcast day, but through our whole vacation last week, this was the first day that seemed to have promising weather (read: no rain). We decided to tough it out and figured we could warm ourselves up with hot cider if needed :)

We were struck by the old look of this barn against the clouds when we pulled up, so Will took a couple of shots of it. I'm pretty sure he's going to enhance this one in photoshop, but I already like it.

There was a pretty hefty breeze right when we arrived... luckily it warmed up soon after, but in this picture the poor Bend was freezing her little bum off. Hence the funny face. We decided to go into the store to warm up, grab our apple bag, and get some fresh doughnuts and hot cider to warm our bones :)

She thought this was the funniest thing!

She actually wanted to be a honeybee for Halloween originally... I had decided we would go with an Old Navy costume again this year because last year the one we got was really good quality, really warm, really cute and a really good price... So I had her go onto the website with me and try to pick one she liked. Well, of course she picked the honeybee, which was the ONLY one not on sale! You know me, can't pay full price for something when I could get it cheaper... So I had her pick her next best fave, which was the spider. And since her two middle names mean "spider fairy" I told her she could wear fairy wings and bring her wand, and be the only little spider fairy trick-or-treating! So it worked out in the end... But she definitely got a kick out of being a bee for a minute here!

She was trying to look down to see how her body changed into a bee... lol!

Going to say "hello" to one of the chickens that escaped from the petting zoo! And some random lady's butt. Sorry about that, but there wasn't really a way to crop it without cutting off Bend or the chicken. *sigh*

Pumpkins and squash and tractors, OH MY!

Ilyana hanging out with Daddio, waiting for the "hay"ride. They didn't actually use hay on this one... They opted for the more high-tech option... Benches!

Ilyana and I... on her first hayride :D She had a blast, absolutely loved it! She kept asking all day if we could go back on the hayride...

For posterity! This is what your first hayride looked like, Bendy Rugg :)

And this is the view, looking back down onto the store, from the hayride up into the orchard.

Ilyana and Daddy, scoping the trees for the best apples left! Turned out, this was the second to last weekend of u-Pick apples this season, so most of the types had already passed. Good thing we made it!

Taste test... Result? Semi-bitter but yummy! We grabbed a couple of those for baking...

I absolutely love this picture of Ills and her Dad. It's a little dark, I need to have Will touch it up still since I'm not as good in photoshop as him... But still, one of my faves from the day. Can't you just feel the love?!

Through the leaves shot of me and the Bendy. I like this one :)

She was getting frustrated that she couldn't get the apples down, so I was showing her how to twist them off.

The best apples are always up high, where they get lots of sun... So we find creative ways of getting at them! Here's Bendy sitting on my head trying to reach one...

And here she is getting a lift from her Dada.

For about half the time that Will and I were picking apples, Ilyana was busy playing "Where's Ruggle?" She thought it was awesome to keep running away from us and hiding between the trees. Ahh, sweet freedom!!

Bendy hider...

There she is!

"I finally caught you, you crazy little bean!"

Or maybe not... She went limp like a rag doll and didn't want me to pick her up. Apparently "Where's Ruggle?" was far too fun a game to give up so easily.

But then I told her Daddy needed her help. And since she LOVES to help with anything grown-up, she rushed right over. She was standing next to him. He would grab the apples, hand them to her, and she would drop them in the bag. Now that's some good teamwork. :D

Whoops, dropped one!

Gorgeous views of the mountains. Here we're looking down on the store- on the bottom left- from up in the strawberry patch area.

More views... And my handsome hubby :)

She was a little crabby here... Something about not wanting to share something that wasn't hers with another little boy there. Yes, we're working on sharing... lol

"What's that?"

Pretty girl. Finally has enough hair for it to blow in the breeze! :)

Dada and the Rugg

Watching the hayride head back down...

We were sort of trying to do a new version of last year's apple bin photos with this next series... But with the bad lighting on this overcast day, we didn't have as much luck. These came out good, but not as good as the ones from last year... Those are still some of my all-time favorites of her :)

Why are you taking so many pictures of me??

*Peek*

Nom nom nom...

And here she is trying to pet chickens that escaped from the petting zoo... Those tricky chickens are masters of evasion, though!

And this is just a bunch of bins full of apples, stacked up together. I thought it looked cool.

We had so much fun at Wellwood this year, and we'll definitely be returning again! Hopefully next year with some family and/or friends... It's an experience for sure, and those cider doughnuts are DELICIOUS!