apples

Yesterday our family took a trip up to Apple Hill.

I love going to that place.

And I love fresh, crisp apples!

So does my family.

 

We had a lovely picnic, looking out at the apple orchards and in the distant,

 we could even see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains.

 

 There were a few a pumpkin patch decorations still up and the kids had a lot of fun with them!

Peter was loving climbing on top of the gigantic pumpkins.
And we were trying to get him to say "I'm the king of the world!"

Then Hannah announced, "it's my turn to be the princess of the earth!"

We watched this industrial strength apple peeler & corer machine in action.

 

 

There were some gorgeous fall colors around us.

And we explored until we found a tiny orchard that claimed to have award-winning pies.
And oh my, were they good.  If you happen to be up there go to "Bodhaine Apple Ranch" -
absolutely delicious and all handmade!!!

 

They said their favorite apple to use was the Rome Beauty.

Another picnic, this time under the apple trees.
In fact, as we were enjoying our treats a huge apple fell out of a tree
and missed hitting Peter's head by mere inches!
The kids thought that was pretty awesome (and we got to take the apple home).

 

What a refreshing, lovely place to spend the afternoon!

This morning the kids and I set to work making our first ever batch of applesauce.

All ready to cook in the crockpot.

It was easy and came out pretty yummy,
but I think the kids had the most fun with the long, curly strings of apple skin.