Fall Family Fun

Finally, the rain and gloom is over bringing the sun and a perfectly blue sky today! The air was crisp and cool. A perfect fall day if you ask me! I didn't realize how perfect the day would be until the 3 of us trekked over to BJ's (the same as Sam's or Costco) to buy diapers, wipes and whatever else we needed in bulk. After our quick trip, I knew we had to do something to enjoy the day. Not that we won't be able to next weekend, but since Emma is having surgery on Monday, I felt we should enjoy ourselves while she was feeling well instead of staying cooped up in the house.

I'm a sucker for Fall. Maybe it is because as a teacher, Fall is a new start. I love all things Fall and there is no better place to enjoy Fall than in New England. I was determined to do something Fall-y. I know that's not really a word, but you know what I mean. Anyway, I had a vision of taking a picture of Emma nestled in a bunch of pumpkins. I wasn't sure how we would acheive the actual picture, but I was sure we could find a way. She even had an adorable little outfit with leaves and butterflies in fall colors. I did some research online and found a farm on the North Shore in Davers.

The farm was packed, but not as exciting as I hoped it would be. We walked around a little pond to the pumpkin patch. The websit advertised a hayride, but upon arrival, I realized that a) we did not actually need to ride to the pumpkin patch, and b) eventhough, we wanted to, it was nothing more than a tractor pulling a flat bed trailer with hay on it. Could be fun, but not so safe when holding a baby. When we got to the pumpkin patch, it seemed a bit picked over and there were many rotting pumpkins. We walked among them though and did find two pumpkins to bring home. One, actually, looked like two pumpkins that grew together.

After the pumpking patch, we made our way back to the barn/farm store to buy our pumpkins. I couldn't resist brining home some apple cider and sampling an apple cider donut. I had never heard of them before living here, but they are a big thing in this area. They are good I must admit. Although, I've never met a donut I didn't like.

We put the pumpkins and cider in the car and headed over to the corn maze. I've never been in one, but it was very cool. The corn stalks were giant and very green. The ears of corn were huge, but I think corn season must be over because all the kernals were dried out. We walked through the maze, only getting lost once or twice. I'm not sure I'll hurry to do it again, but it was fun.

Emma slept through the whole thing, other than a few tears when I briefly took her out of Baby Bjorn to take a picture, so after the maze, we called it a day. We never did get the picture of just her nestled in the pumpkins, but truth be told, she probably wouldn't have been very happy posing for it anyway.

When we got home, Jeremy and Emma were both tuckered out, so they took a little nap.

I'm so glad we got out and enjoyed the day instead of sitting in front of the TV or cleaning all day. We even had a nice cozy dinner of rice, sausage and butternut squash. Okay, it probably didn't really all go together and rice and sausage might not be traditional Fall dishes, but the butternut squash is my favorite thing to eat in the Fall - roasted with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Yum! Anyway, it was a beautiful day and definitely got me in the mood for Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving. I'd love to make the pumpking patch and apple cider a family tradition!