Happy Halloween!

Today was a really busy and fun day. It began with a field trip with several homeschool friends to Woodside Farm, a local place that sells apples, cider, baked goods, honey, and cider donuts. They have 15 acres of orchards, with 32 different types of apples. We toured the store and heard about the farm's history, types of apples, how orchards are run, and which types of apples Woodside chose to grow. He also told us about the natural pesticides they use--bat houses and purple martin houses were the ones the kids liked the best!

We learned about honey and cider making, saw the cider press, learned that the man who owns the farm and his son can pick 20 bushels of apples in about an hour (!) and saw where they store the cider apples as well as the apples they'll sell. We got to go into the orchard and pick apples, and then we had a hayride around the orchard. Emma was scared to go at first (I think it was because there were no car seats and seat belts!) but once she saw that I was fine with her getting on and would sit right next to her, she happily crunched an apple while we rode. We picked the most beautiful, tiny, jewel-red apples I've ever seen. I can't remember the name of them! But they are small, like a clementine, and yet juicy and crisp, with gorgeous red skins, and they grow in clusters like cherries. We call them Emma sized apples.

The afternoon was a blur of school work, lunch, and play time. Then my friend Amie brought Evelyn over for trick-or-treating, and the kids FINALLY got to meet baby Sadie! They were ecstatic to see her, oohed and aahed appropriately, and then ran off to play. Amie took Sadie home so they could hide from the revelers, and her husband David came here. We all had dinner together, then Matt and David took the kids trick-or-treating while I did candy duty here. (This is the first year I've stayed back, because usually Amie, Jenn and I took the kids out and then men stayed home. But with Amie on newborn patrol and Jenn in NC--boohoo--I let Matt have a turn.) And Rachel wasn't with us for ANY of it--she went to her friends' house across the street, had a party and pizza for dinner, and went trick-or-treating with the big kids....my baby!

Anyway, it was a lovely day...here are some photos.

--Jen