golly what a day!
we were all so excited to go apple pickin’! kim mentioned the idea for reagan’s birthday…and we were all in! it was a perfect, perfect day to be out and about. the weather was just right, the sun was shining and the temperature was casually cool. we couldn’t have asked for a better day!
hc, grace, me, and olive packed ourselves up and got into the car for a loooong ride up to the royal oak farm. hmmmmm, and hour and a half later {um, it felt like two hours, at least!} we finally arrived at our destination. the farm looked amazing, i was super excited! we pulled in, parked, and scurried our way over to meet up with the rest of the gang.
[the huge bonfire we passed along the way]
[beautiful path down a rickety road]
[my favorite line: established for God’s glory]
[minnetonka booties // carter’s jeggings & buffalo check shirt // old navy vest]
thuy, lan, pete, and avery were already there at the farm. oh, we were starving! food was a top priority. kim, reagan, bennett, and terry arrived a few minutes later and we all met at the restaurant. we pulled some tables together and i held ground while the group bought their food. hc brought back a feast! chicken pot pie, mac n cheese, fruit, pie, bread, oh my! i nibbled from his plate and i gleefully fed olive mac n cheese and chicken pot pie. she is such an eater!
[mac n cheese, rhubarb pie, roll, fruit, chicken pot pie]
after noshing, we quickly peeked at the gift shop. it was soooo crowded! we perused around a bit but decided we wanted to get a start on apple picking. though, we knew we would come back to the shop to buy some goodies! you can’t leave an apple orchard without some sweet treats!
[royal oak gift shop]
[candied apples]
we headed on over to the apple orchard cashier. it was something like $20 per bag and they offered the option to hitch a ride on their hay wagon…duh, of course we wanted to go for a hay ride {hello, it’s also part of our autumn to do!}. we happily spent our time waiting snapping a ton of photos {what we do best!}, of course i have to document everything!
the wagon finally made it’s way back and we were off!
[getting on the wagon hay ride!]
the tractor dropped us off at the north orchard where there were mostly shensu {fuji sweet} and royal empire apples {sweet tart}. we had such a blast searching for apples. the kids had a great time! the orchards were beautiful and it was fantastic being outside in the fresh air!
the kids ran up and down each aisle. they got so excited when they found a decent apple! reagan and bennett were throwing loads of apples into their bag! we picked green ones, red ones, and watercolored ones.
[ready to pick some apples!]
olive helped out with the apple picking too! then grace and hc got creative on how to reach the high ones up on the trees! slowly but surely, we were getting our bag full of yummy apples.
[running through the orchard]
[and i helped!]
[apple picking]
after hitting up most of the north orchard, we started walking back. olive needed a diapy change and a feeding. of course, we snapped a lot of fun photos along the way. these kids are too cute together. best cousin combo evah!
[cousins]
[hanging out]
hc and grace ran to the other orchard to finish filling up our apple bag. while they did that, we perused another shop by their pumpkin patch {where they sold pumpkins, gourds, honey, and more decorative fall stuff}. i was really loving this orchard! there were so many fun things to do and it was a really nice atmosphere.
next on our list was the petting zoo. as we made our way towards the petting zoo, the farm also had a huge play area for the kids! they had a carousel, tee pee, a train ride, and lots and lots of play houses, cars, slides, etc. the kids were climbing all over everything, running in and out of the play house, and just having a good ol’ time playing with one another.
the kids finally made it to the petting zoo {after playing and playing and playing on the playground}. it was too funny to see reagan and bennett wanting to feed the animals but absolutely scared at the same time! they were worried that they would bite them, so i had to feed the animals first to show them that it was harmless. they were convinced and they were feeding pros within minutes!
[the sun is setting on this perfect day]
after the petting zoo and all the other things we did that afternoon, it was getting late. the farm was only open for another hour or so, so we decided to hit the gift shop for some last minute purchases. of course i had to pick up some apple cider donuts {copious amounts}!! yum. yum. yum. i grabbed a dozen for us, a dozen for the dick and jane, and two packages of mini donuts for kim and my dad! donuts for everyone! i picked up pancake mix, a cute little strawberry knit hat for olive, and a few toys for the birthday boy!
it was such a wonderful, gorgeous day. we had the best time with our friends and family! it was beautiful out and the farm was ah-maze. we loved apple picking {i smell a homemade apple pie in our near future!} and totally taking in all the glory of a fantastic fall day. every activity we did was so lovely and fun. plus, we came home with the best goodies!
happy birthday to the most wonderful, quirky, funny, sweet nephew ever! we love you so much reagan!!!
xoxo
