A Trip to the Mountains

Leif beams from the caboose of the big wooden train at the orchard.

Saturday, we took a much needed trip out of town and into the moutains.  We went to our favorite apple orchard, where Jason and I have been going since we were a-courtin'.  That same orchard has produced every apple that went in to our "famous" apple butter, and is also the same place we took Leif, a few weeks after his birth, and took a picture of him on a patch of pumpkins.  (We thought about it this time, too, but he's gotten too big, and it looked like it might be painful.)

Walkin' through the pumpkin patch, picking out a pumpkin for Grandmom and Granddad (his idea, of course!)

I became rather smitten with flowers on this trip.  I. the lass who eschews anything in the garden that has no function or practical purpose (ie, becomes food or tool), have fallen in love with purposeless, pretty, pointless flowers.

This is why:

It was even prettier in person, too.

Especially cause it was everywhere.

A different little patch of beauty.

 I bemoaned the fact that I couldn't "document" any of them since I didn't know their names (so I could grow the same species in my garden)...and then I realized I had a camera.  Voila - loads of pictures of flowers now on my computer so I can see the ones I liked, and order them from a seed catalog when the time comes.

Jason and Leif on top of the straw tower.  Or is it Hay?  I always get those two confused, but I think hay is for horses (har har har!) and this is straw. 

More happiness on the caboose. 

He'd been waiting to play on this giant wooden train since I told him about our planned adventure to the orchard.

My two darlins on the hayride through the orchard.

I believe this was right before Leif started singing, "The wheels on the bus" much to the delight of all the women on the hay ride.

Can you spot Leify-Pumpkin in the pumpkin patch? 

(Hmn, I guess we got a picture of him in the pumpkin patch after all!)

Right about this time was when all the older women on the hay ride squealed with delight at how cute he was sitting in the pumpkin patch.

Leif and Jason all squinty in front of the pumpkin pyramid.

Two words come to mind:  Pastoral.  Idyllic.

Sigh.

He really wanted to pick a LOT of pumpkins.  We had to put a few back (when he wasn't looking) because he just kept loading the hayride up with pumpkins.

On the hayride, pulled by a tractor.

In the big wooden train, but not the caboose this time. :)

These were my favorite flowers, although I've yet to look them up. 

I know I've seen them in seed catalogs before, but they never looked very exciting. 

In real life, though, they're so much fun, like little strawberries in the Fall.

I think they're the same as these dudes, only different colors:

Anyone know what they are?

Anyone?  Anyone?

He loved jumping from level to level in the big straw pyramid.

This was after one such jump (he jumped more than his own height down to here...it looked really fun!)

Pastoral Pumpkin Pickin' with the Big Man.

Apples.

At the apple orchard.

My dark horse in the competition for my favorite photo of the day (none were particularly stellar, I thought).

I don't know why I like it....I just do! (ooh, name that tune!)

Well, I mean, I like it because he is around 20 feet in the air on a giant pile of straw, looking all sweet and small and cuddly and his hair is all soft and snuggly and...

Yeah.

So, anyway, it was a great day.

We brought a little picnic lunch and ate brisket sandwiches topped with quick pickled onions.  We washed it down with fresh cold apple cider (I love their cider because the contents are: juice from apples.  No crazy preservatives or flava enhancers here!)  We brought home three jugs of the cider, a boatload of apples, a few pumpkins (including a big flat one for Me!) and a small jug of Pear Cider. 

Leif has been asking for Pear Cider every hour since we arrived at home, but I'm keeping it for a special occasion. 

Like...Monday.

We had a wonderful time and we're already making plans to go back because we liked it so much.

Plus, we're running out of apple cider. ;)

Cheerio.