Pumpkins & Apples

Since it is technically Autumn now, I decided to take the munchkin on a very Fall-ish adventure this weekend. We headed East to Oak Glen. I'd been there before ages ago (I think I was about 11) but the munchkin had never been. As soon as we exited the freeway we saw a huge inflatable pumpkin in the air and a great big pumpkin patch... so we knew that had to be our first stop. 

*****Before I go any further... let me add a little note that it was about 102 degrees here in sunny Southern California this weekend.. but I was determined to have an "Autumn Experience".

Drew was so excited that this was a "Pick Your Own" patch. He's used to just picking them from rows of pre-picked pumpkins... or from the shelf at Wal-Mart. But of course, my never-satisfied child wasn't happy with just one.. he wanted all of them, and could come up with a reason for each one, and a place where we would put it. Luckily I got him to agree to just getting a few decorative small ones, and assured him we'd go to other patches over the next few weeks and we'd buy some we could carve.

After the pumpkin patch we headed up one of the longest roads ever towards the orchards. Nothing says Fall like picking pumpkins and apples... when we get to the Orchards, we stopped at the first one we saw. They were having a western show, but Drew decided our ears were too sensitive to listen to the guns being fired, so we went to find some lunch. After a quick bite to eat (for me, the munchkin ate 4 fries and decided he wasn't hungry...) we decided it was time to do what we came for and find some apples. This orchard however, didn't have any trees where people could pick from... just rows and rows of stores... So we moved on. 

Then next place up the road was HUGE. But it was also just a lot of shopping. There was Apple-Everything... cookies, pies, towels, dolls, fritters, bread.. you name, they can make it out of an apple. We went through the petting zoo which was kinda neat and let Drew play on a bouncer.. before heading out again.

Finally, we made our way on to Willow Brook farm. There were tons of cars parked on the side of the road so I figured this must be a good spot (oh, and also the ONLY spot) where we could pick some apples. We got in, got our bag and apple-picker-stick-thingy (no clue what the name of that thing is) and headed out to the trees.

Highly Disappointing........ there were about 20 trees or so... and each had about 4 apples on it... 2 of which were either rotten or not nearly ripe enough for picking. But we were on a mission, so I gave Drew the apple-picker-stick-thingy and let him go to town just picking whatever he could reach. We left there with about 5 apples.... BOO.... 

oh well, we had (an extremely hot) very good day together and spent some well needed time out in nature (apparently the beach isn't the only place mother nature created). And later that night we played Cowboys and Indians until bed time.... great weekend, with the greatest kid ever. 

***Side Note:  Look what I found outside my office at work this morning??? If all goes well, he'll be the new addition to our family. I can't wait for Drew to meet him this evening!!!