A few weeks ago my dad came to visit. He brought with him a little red wheelbarrow, which is perfectly Ian-sized and great for playing in our wonderful backyard. Thanks, Daddio!
We always try to get a little music session with him when he comes, so here he is playing the xylophone he gave us last spring and singing for Ian.
On his one full day here, we gave him the true New River Valley, autumnal experience. We went to The Palisades for brunch, which is an amazing restaurant tucked in an unlikely location in an old, run-down town. Seriously, I dream of their brunches. Each dish is unique and mouth-watering. It's reasonably priced, and kids eat free until they are five. Woot!
Next we went to Doe Creek Orchard, which has incredible views and a large variety of apples. We picked a whopping 84 pounds. Now, two weeks later, we only have five apples left. We used them to make apple sauce, butter, crisps, pies, chips, and then a whole lot of eating. Many bags contain frozen pie fillings and sliced, cored, and peeled apples to throw into baking and cooking throughout the year.
Ian napped for the first part of the picking and then came to join us.
He sure loves apples!!
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| This kid. |
Ian and I picked a few more to add to the bounty that Jim & Grumps had already accumulated, and then we joined them down at the wine tasting. We didn't join in, though ;)
Next we headed to Joe's Trees, which is a wonderful pumpkin patch/Christmas tree farm between Blacksburg and the orchard. We couldn't have asked for better weather to show off our area.
Ian milked the cow...
showed us how tall he was...
and then led the way to the pumpkin patch.
Err, maybe just led me. Ha! I love this picture of three generations marching over the hill. We could have taken the hay ride, but the line was pretty long. We decided to take it on the way back.
Jim ran back to double-check on the pumpkin prices, so Grumps & Ian took some time to enjoy watching and waving to the tractors as they went by.
He was surprised to find that this one had a hole in it...
Me and my three pumpkins... that belly is growing, growing, growing.
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| 22 Weeks Pregnant |
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| "Hey Grumps, how about this one?" |
We tried to take a few family pictures for our Christmas card. I'm saving them for later, in case we use them. But here's one of all of us :)
Me and my boy. He chose one little pumpkin to bring home.
But not after piling a whole bunch in my lap and counting them over and over again. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, two... one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, two..."
Here comes the hayride!
First let's explore this tractor...
While we figured out which pumpkins we wanted, Grumps played with Ian.
Ian helped us choose a bunch of pie pumpkins to process later.
And soon our pumpkin hopped into the wheelbarrow with all of the other pumpkins to head home.
Our car was full of people, apples, and pumpkins. The sign of a harvest-full, autumn day.
