Wednesday, October 9, 2013

An Apple Tradition...

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...

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

A Little Summer Catch Up; Camping Trip #1

I wasn't very great at taking pictures this summer. It was just a weird summer. It felt very "busy" and yet I don't have a lot to show for it! I'm just chalking it up to the kids keeping us distracted and trying to cram all our little family vacations into Matt's 4 weeks off... it makes me feel better anyway...

We went camping (twice) this summer. Our annual Olson camp out came first this year and it was a beautiful weekend on the Breitenbush (after it stopped raining). We love this little river. It was where I caught my first fish on a fly rod, and where lots of Olsons have caught their first fish. The tradition has been to camp here on the birthday weekend of our oldest nephew who turned 16 this year!!!

I didn't pull out my camera enough. Sad story. But I did pull it out long enough to document Emmitt's first fishing experience...


Em and Mia, Riley's girlfriend. 

Oh Winston...

Building/Creating/Mothering something...

Hoarder. :)


Em learning from Daddy.



Pink Crocs and a pink pole. Can't get much manlier than that... Breast Cancer awareness?!? Oh wait, that's this month...



Liv pushing Madi on the hammock. 



We snuck out to fish while Emmitt was napping. I'd say it was a successful nap! ;)

And this was what Emmitt spent most of his weekend doing. Flying down the hill by our campground... or screaming because I wouldn't let him fly down the hill by our campground. It's hard being 2.



And that, my friends, is Emmitt. Pink Crocs and high speed bikes. 

**It should be noted that Emmitt got his own pair of blue Crocs (his sister's were his favorite thing to wear this summer) and a Spiderman fishing pole for his birthday. Family members took pitty on this poor boy... ;)**