A Trip to Hartland Orchard

It's Phil's weekend off and the weather was fabulous today so we decided this morning that today would be a good day to make our annual trip to Hartland Orchard in Markham, Virginia to pick apples. We've done this every year with the exception of one since 2004 and we look forward to it each fall. So we packed up the kids and made the 45 minute drive out to the orchard.

When we got there it was packed! We expected this as it was Saturday and positively beautiful outside so we weren't put off by the crowd. However, while making our way down the long winding driveway, we saw signs along the road stating that due to the long, hot summer, there were very few apples in the trees this fall and we might be better off selecting from their bins of already-picked apples instead of venturing into the orchard. Bummer! One last blow from the longest hottest summer of my life!

Oh well. We decided to get a bag of apples from the bins per their suggestion and we also partook in hamburgers and caramel apples while there. On our way in we noticed that their pumpkin patch was in full swing so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and take the opportunity to pick out our pumpkins as well.

We got two ginormous pumpkins, one for each of the boys, which we plan to carve using a Sesame Street carving kit we picked up at Target the other week. Philip is going to go crazy!

So it was a shorter outing than expected but a good one nonetheless. Andrew slept through most of the ride and our time at the orchard and Philip was in good spirits and excited to try his hand at lifting each pumpkin he saw.

Tomorrow I will put those apples to good use and bake a couple of the Barefoot Contessa's declicious apple crisps. Fall is finally here!

Big Brother and Little Brother, ready to hit the road!

Posing with his pumpkin

He made a bee line for this pile of toddler-sized pumpkins!

Just right!

Mommy and Andrew

Searching for the Great Pumpkin

Trying to pick up a pumpkin that probably outweighs him!

He loves sitting next to the pumpkins on the step. He likes to give them hugs!