Early Picks

Our new house is located caddy corner from an apple orchard!

Oh yeah!! (Said in Vector's voice if you've seen Despicable Me!!)

We've anxiously been waiting for apple picking season...and finally picked a few the other evening. 

Unfortunately, we are still a wee bit early. When these babies come online though...watch out!!

I'm banking on the plethora we pick to keep the proverbial doctor away for a looooong time.

I think we are due for a dry run on the doctor front. 

Apple Harvest

We had some Seattle friends in town so we decided to take them to Bill's Berry Farm where apple and pumpkin harvest was in full swing.

Getting kids to pose is nearly impossible.

Here are my attempts. 

They just want to look anywhere BUT the camera.

After a pose at the entrance, we grabbed some grub and hit the swings.

Does anyone else find this terrifying?

Then it was onto the petting zoo, pony rides and the train. 

The weather was crappy that day so we didn't get to hit the pumpkin patch OR the corn maze! Guess we'll just have to go back!

We did manage to sneak in some apple picking while our friends were in town.

Charlotte couldn't wait to bite into a juicy apple. 

A lovely (almost) fall weekend.

Summer is Flying By

So it's summer! Lazy days and lounging around, right?! Yeah right!! All I know is summer is F-L-Y-I-N-G by...we've been busy, busy and more busy. And the funny thing is, if you asked me what was keeping us so busy, I couldn't pinpoint it.  Perhaps some bullet points will help?

- First and foremost, the mole I had removed...NOT melanoma! woo hoo!!

- Harvest is in FULL throttle. Court is working more than he isn't working. He does come home for dinner (and usually cleans up the dishes and takes out the trash - God Bless him) and then it's back to the farm until -most nights - well after my bedtime.

- Charlotte and Grace are sick. Just summer colds but still I've got one word for you - boogers!!

- Remember all those aches and pains I was complaining about? Well, everything still hurts. So much so I finally broke down and paid the $20 co-pay to see a doctor. Diagnosis? Tendonitis in the shoulder and elbow. (Apparently from hauling Charlotte around because it's only on my left side.) Or as the doctor politely told "Wimpy White Girl Syndrome." Yes, she told me that verbatim. So not only am I old and falling apart, now I'm apparently wimpy and...(gasp) white!! Already in the presence of a doctor and the co-pay already paid, I decided to ask the doctor about my delayed baby-weight weight loss. Operation Butterball just isn't working the way it did last time. I relayed to her my exercise regiment, my very clean diet and her response...verbatim mind you...."I don't feel sorry for you. I weigh now what I did the day I gave birth!" Ummmmmm....what?! What does your fat a@# have to do with mine?!?! Bottom line - she obviously didn't have a magic pill.

- Finally, the biggest time suck of all. Real Housewives of New York. hahah No really...my computer. It's hurt real bad. I basically can't import photos or videos which is pretty much killing me and can't access any videos I've previously uploaded. You can imagine my level of angst imagining I'll never view the countless. precious moments of my babies growing up. I've spent hour upon hour upon hour on the phone with Apple - only to be bounced from one agent to another, to be disconnected, to be placed on hold FOREVER and then at the end of all, my computer STILL DOESN'T WORK!!! They basically have no idea what is wrong with it - I've probably spent 12 hours on the phone with them - and I am literally hours away from a nervous breakdown. Nothing throws me over the edge like a big, fat, computer glitch!

Ok I think that is all I can think of at the moment. I'm exhausted. It's 10 pm and Grace has called me into her room about 8x to have her diaper changed. Mind you, this is the same kid who was practically potty trained two weeks ago but who has suddenly pulled up the e-brake and INSISTS on wearing only diapers - no panties. No pull-ups. No potty. Seriously?!

Blueberry Daze 2011

What a difference a year makes!!

Last year, Grace, Charlotte and I all attended the Blueberry Daze Festival BUT

Grace was too young to participate in most of the activities. She was 18 months old and Charlotte was still in my tummy with three months left to brew!

This year was quite different!!

Upon arrival, we warmed up with the petting zoo!

They had baby chicks, a calf and sheep.

The goats were REALLY friendly

the pigs were not.

Then it was off to the races...Grace was old enough to ride the ponies!! Yee haw!

(I thought the kids had to be three and was FULLY prepared to lie in order to get her on a horse but luckily she was the appropriate age so no sins were committed!)

Oh boy did she love that! I am still hearing about Wendy the pony!

After riding Wendy, she rode another horse named Henry.

Henry was a bit different...

Charlotte, not old enough to do anything, was pretty excited to watch her big sister undertake such big adventures!

What a trooper!

There is the little train...way out there in the U-Pick blueberry field.

Here they come on the home stretch...

They even had swings, live music, BBQ and stuff to buy!

A REALLY fun day!

What a fun way to ring in the 4th of July!!

Farming 101

It rained A LOT last night.

(Definition of A LOT: Aaaa Looooooottttttt)

It thundered too.

A LOT.

When the clouds parted for a few minutes this morning, we took Grace outside. All the rain from the night before ousted the worms in our front yard. A LOT of worms. 

See above definition...there were A LOT of worms!!

I was so thankful they were worms and not snakes.

Anyway, the appearance of SO many worms prompted Grace's first farming lesson.

Poop = fertilizer

Worms poop.

Poop is fertilizer.

Fertilizer grows crops.

Highly sophisticated stuff but she was enthralled - with the worms that is.

She definitely has the makings of a farmer's daughter.

  

In fact, the only thing we could do to get her away from 'worm highway' 

(what we dubbed the 20 foot path of worms along the edge of our grass) 

was fly a kite!

What a weekend! Kites AND worms!!

At bedtime, when I asked her what she wanted to talk about, instead of Snow White, she answered, "WORMS!"

A farmer's daughter indeed.