Now That's How You Weekend

This weekend was perfection. We kicked it off Friday with the school's Latino festival, which never disappoints. I took exactly zero pictures because I spent the first third eating from food trucks, the second third snuggling babies that were being passed around, and the last third working the tissue paper flower table. I know I made at least 100 of those things with kiddos--and some adults! This annual event really is one of my favorites!

Saturday, we set off to explore an apple orchard/pumpkin patch. The very first stop was the pumpkin chunkin' station! The kids loved trying their hands at the pumpkin catapult, and I am beyond tickled with these pictures:

 From there, we took a hayride to the apple orchard. We were there right at the very end of the season, and Brad was a bit annoyed because they confined us to a very small section of the orchard, but we came home with a full peck:

 We have found that this particular version of Arizona black apples make fabulous pies and applesauce, so we were very happy campers:

 Once we had our peck, we hopped back on the hayride to go to the pumpkins. Because of the hurricane, they had to pick all of the pumpkins off the vine. They did scatter them around the peach orchard, though, so we could still hunt and "pick" our favorites.

Issa chose this unique funky one:

 I found a very fun lumpy gourd:

 This is actually Daddy's lumpy bumpy one (and the only half-way decent picture I got of Evan all day--the family picture was a disaster):

 Evan chose that behemoth perched on Daddy's shoulder:

 Please note Issa ended up carrying hers on her should because the boys were:

 We ended our time at the pumpkin patch with warm cider donuts and cold cider slushies. The kids tried their first tire swings, and we just enjoyed fall.

We were home in time for dinner, which may or may not have been the apple pie Issa and I made as soon as we got home. While Issa and I were baking (and she was laughing about all of the odd tweaks on the family apple pie recipe that each generation has made, passed on, but refused to write on the actual recipe card) the boys were cleaning Brad's birthday present:

 This big shiny grill came to live with us last Thursday. Brad has been waiting for a great sale on a gas grill all season. A neighbor posted he was upgrading and just needed this baby gone--free to anyone who would come get it. I stopped on my way home from work and thought it looked great but couldn't figure out how to get it in the van. I called Brad, who arrived on the scene and confirmed that it wouldn't fit in the van. So...he rolled it home. It was on wheels, so aside from the dreadful racket it was a pretty easy task. It needed a good cleaning, and Brad even got the lighter switch repaired. Now...it's as good as new:

 Our first task was to attempt smoking our own jerky. It was amazing!

 Sunday, the boys cleaned the garage, mowed the grass, and detailed the car. Issa and I went to the ballet:

We were home in time for grilled chicken on the new grill, and now we're running headlong into what is looking like a really crazy week! I'm so glad I have the memories of this weekend to keep me going...