Fall is my favorite. I say it every year. It just never gets old. I have Madelyn trained well. We'll be driving along and she'll say things like, "oh mom, you won't believe the beautiful tree I just saw! It's your favorite!" It melts my heart. I love this age. Life is so exciting at four. She remembers things from what seems like forever ago and is always blowing my mind with her new knowledge. We're doing preschool at home and this girl is obsessed with writing! I love it and it drives me Ca-razy at the same time! I'm constantly tripping over piles of little papers; every last piece has been written/colored on. I can hardly wait to throw the mess away and then she'll sneak into the garbage and pull out pieces that she just can't live without. It's a never-ending cycle...
Anyway... back to fall at the Olson house. We have an apple tradition (that I've spoke about before, here and here) with our friends. Mo and I have been picking apples since Madi was a baby and making them into sauce. We love heading to Beilke Farm and picking delicious apples. This year Mary and Grayson were finally able to come along and the fun was multiplied. The saying is true: everything is more fun with kids...
Okay, maybe not everything, but certainly adventures like apple picking!!!
(Grayson (16 mos.), Madi (4), Em (2), Chase (8 mos.), Blake (almost 3!)
The very first picture and everyone was looking. We knew it was going to be a good day. ;)
And you'll note, once again, Madi is the only girl. She's pretty used to it and quite frankly does a fabulous job of keeping all these boys in line... (Blake & Chase have all boy cousins too-7 to be exact- and Grayson has all boy cousins-4!)
This is a classic Grayson pose. Love the little finger!
This is as good as I could get with my two. *sigh*
Such a serious guy! I don't know where he gets it... :)
She's kind of cray-cray about her apples! I wish I would have kept a count. She had to have eaten at least 4 WHOLE apples on our brief outing. For realsies. All the way down to the core!
Proof that lil' Chase got some love!!! He's such a happy guy.
Boys! They were so entertained throwing things into this giant pit.
...Until the train came along.
It really is the perfect apple farm. Front row seats for the train!
I'm sort of in love with this picture. When Madi saw it she immediately said, "Oh yeah, I was telling Blake ALL about bees and how they live in little white flowers so you can't walk around without your shoes on or you might get stung!" They're such sweet friends... She talks. He listens. ;)
When we were finished picking we let the kids climb to the top of this GIANT saw dust pile. Grandpa Beilke told us to take our shoes off and try it out. The kids loved it, and honestly it was pretty awesome. This picture doesn't do it justice, but these piles are taller than every apple tree so you can view the entire farm from what feels like an eagle's eye. Simple pleasures!
What a fun morning! I love these sweet friends and their little boys! We have LOTS of memories together and I look forward to many more...
