Autumn is Upon Us!!

I asked my students to tell each other what their favorite thing about fall is. They all had the typical kid answers...jumping in leaves, going to the apple orchard, halloween... Mine tend to change as my life changes. There was a time when the autumn meant field hockey games, Oktoberfests, and pretending to follow football to impress my boyfriend. Now I have married the boyfriend and we have two children and my answers have changed! Go figure!
My son had two soccer games this weekend. The best part was that he scored 3 goals during the first game. It was so exciting to see.
Here he is during the second game of the weekend. He is #1 on the green team. His buddy is #11 on the blue team. This is the game where his friend scored his first goal! He and Travis approached this game as more of a social hour than a competition.
Done with soccer, our family headed to a local apple orchard to pick apples. It was so crowded, probably because last weekend was so lousy, weather-wise. We went with 5 other families. We lost track of most of the group we went with, but had a great time anyway.
Here we are with our neighbors. We walked up and down the aisles picking an absurd amount of apples. How we will get through them all, I will never know!
Travis and Chelsea show off their rewards. They were very proud. Travis was especially proud to show us how to pick an apple. He had been to the orchard two days earlier on a class trip and spent most of the hayride lecturing us on proper apple-picking technique. "Lift, twist, and pull!"
I am pretty sure Travis's favorite part of the day was being lifted up high by dad to get the perfect apple. Thank goodness daddy is 6 feet and 3 inches because the perfect apples were, in Trav's opinion, at the tip-top of the trees.
Chelsea would go into the trees and grab the apples right off the tree. She would emerge triuphant saying,"I did it!" Then she would (not so gently) throw the apples into the bag.
A big highlight for the kids was finding some ladders set up to pick apples. Travis took the first trip up the ladder, followed by his buddy. Not to be outdone... Chelsea went up, too. She was determined to go up as high as she could and got so annoyed when daddy put his hand on her back to spot her. She will be our independent toughie.

Then it was off to the pumpkin patch. Chelsea had fun just looking at the pumpkins and trying to pick them all up.
Travis and his buddies raced through the pumpkin patch. "It's a maze!" they kept telling us, proving once again that it is simple things that please children (and adults) the most.

Then it was off for a quick trip to the playground and home. Apple crisp for dessert. YUM!
The perfect ending to a great fall weekend!!!