In Which We Do All of the Fall Things

On Sunday, we invited new friends from our church to come have lunch with us.  It was so great to get to know them better (they recently moved to the area from the west coast), and our kids had a blast playing together. It just so happened that they day we invited them for lunch was the same day Andy and Taryn wanted to do a hayride and cider making, so it was an added bonus for us all to be able to do it together!

We make cider in the old (maybe antique? I'm not sure who decides when something becomes "antique," not just "old." Ha!) cider press every fall. It is fun for all of the kids to take turns adding apples, cranking, and drinking the fresh cider.

The kids had fun with the buggy, too. 

That would be my little mechanically-minded two year old teaching his one year old cousins how to work the pedal and breaks on that buggy.  Watch out for this trio in a couple of years!! 

After we finished making cider, we went on a real hayride. 

Now, I don't mean to downplay all of the "hayride to the pumpkin patch" events you can do at local places, but it just doesn't compare to taking a long hayride on the farm, with the hills all around, and getting pumpkins in our own fields (although they were placed there by family; we don't have a pumpkin patch.)

Loading up at the farm.  Elliott and his baby cousin Ethan both stayed at the house with Grandma; it gets cold on the open wagon!

Collette and her new buddy, Trail. Of course my warm-blooded child didn't even put her jacket on.

Snuggling with our Trey-Man on the ride.

Beautiful day for a ride!

Picking our pumpkins! 

Collette was beyond thrilled to find this huge pumpkin.  I wish the pumpkin wasn't covering her face because she was beaming. :) 

And look who crawled right up into the tractor when Uncle Andy got out.  

Sheer. Joy.  Oh, this little farm boy has my heart. 

And, since we had all of those pumpkins, what was there to do with them except carve them? So we all headed back to our house for a pumpkin carving party. :)

Our lunch date turned into an all afternoon and evening affair! Collette, Basil, Trail, and Trey. They had a blast together. 

All the kids! Basil, Trail, Collette, Elliott, Tabby, Autumn, Ethan, Trey, Amelia, Jonathan Jr., and Isaac. Whew. 

With that many kids, and all of the day's activities, we didn't end up getting to finish and light our pumpkins that night, but here they are.  Trey picked Cookie Monster, Collette picked Hello Kitty (her current obsession), which took forever to carve. And then Collette picked at cat design for Elliott. 

Posing with their pumpkins!

It was such a long day, but it was so much fun.  I'm so thankful for so many wonderful people in our lives!