A is for apples

In Alyssa's world A is for Alyssa, but lately in our house A is for apple. Each of the past two weekends, we've visited apple orchards, enjoying fall weather, yummy apples, and a few other treats as well.

Nana and PapPap visited two weeks ago and we went to Robinettes.



It was kind of a gray day, but we enjoyed our visit. Robinette's is pretty commercialized, but I've never seen so many apples on trees as I did there. There were so many apples on the tree that the branches were reaching the ground, and there was almost more red than green as you looked out at the orchard.

After a horse-drawn hayride through the orchard, the girls enjoyed playing on the slide, and we all enjoyed some cider and shared some pumpkin doughnuts. They were pretty tasty. Alyssa wanted to jump on this big pillow jumping thing, but because it started to rain, she couldn't go on much to her dismay.



When we mentioned to the girls last weekend the possibility of going to an orchard, Alyssa had two comments/questions:
1. You think Lauren and I can share a doughnut?
2. Let's see if it not rain so I can jump.

The second orchard, Sietsema Orchard, was much less commercial. We went out to the fields when we arrived and picked some apples. Unfortunately a hail storm had come through a few days before and many of the apples were damaged, but we were able to pick 1/2 bushel.





Of course, along the way, we each enjoyed an apple out in the fields. Watching Lauren carry her apples around reminded me of Alyssa at that age, and just made me smile. She was so happy and content wandering around with an apple in each hand. Apples have fast become her favorite treat, and she loves to just walk around with one, taking little nibbles now and again. And if she's got a hold of an apple, you don't dare try to take it away from her.



Out in the fields, both of them had juice dripping off their chins and just loved the experience. We laughed as we watched Alyssa eat her apple because she ate it from the top down as opposed to from the sides. You can kind of tell in the picture.



We then had some of the best fresh out of the over doughnuts and enjoyed another hayride. It was a really fun day and we've all enjoyed the apples over the course of the week.