The Leaves Have "Fall"en

And it is so bittersweet.  On one hand, it's such a blast to play in the leaves, aside from the fact that Ryan recently had a tick crawling on her which I'm sure came from rolling around in them.  But, on the other hand, it means that the trees are now bare and winter is sure to be here soon.  While the holidays are literally upon us and that is truly exciting, I also know that snow, heaps and mounds of snow, is coming.  And once it's here, it won't be gone until April.  But fall, fall is STUNNING in Massachusetts.

Somehow I moved from one extreme to another living in Southern California most of my life where "winter" is defined by 50 degree weather and a little bit of rain but for the most part it's sunny and warm 9 months out of the year to the North East where it is the exact opposite.  Winter is never-ending it seems and a 50 degree day after months and months of snow seems like a good time to go sun-bathing!

But, let's not get too depressed just yet.  We've still been enjoying the mild fall weather and clearly, we've all been taking full advantage of the fallen leaves because let's face it, we Californians have missed out on this our entire lives so we may have an unhealthy obsession with all things Fall.

It's no wonder that so many family members want to come visit us during the fall months so that they can experience the beauty themselves.  We had my Mother-in-Law Denise out here last week visiting us and she sure enjoyed playing in the fall foliage with Ryan as well.

We even have a fall leaf playground in our own backyard!  Which means that I probably need to buy a rake and consider cleaning up the "toys" someday soon as I'm told once the snow hits it will turn them all into mush and apparently that is even less fun to clean up.

But, we'll enjoy them for a few more days, and maybe I'll find a few more photo opportunities since I obviously didn't take enough pictures in them this year. :)

Apple Picking 2015

This past weekend, we utilized Josh's first full weekend day off in over a month to go apple picking at Tougas Farm as a family.  Ryan and I had experienced this now yearly tradition last year with some of my mom friends and their kids, but I was thrilled that Josh was able to join us this year.   Fall is upon us as the leaves have begun to change and the temperature highs have regularly been in the 50's so it was the perfect time to head to the apple farm.  Apple picking is definitely one of those Massachusetts fall activities that is quite simply a "must do."  I'm certain that when there comes a time where we don't live in MA anymore, apple picking in October will be one of the things I miss the most.

We also had our friends join us with their two little kids and so a fun day was had by all.  Ryan and her BFF Avery enjoyed the petting zoo animals, eating apples in the orchards, and playing on the giant playground.  Rory slept the entire morning which was fine by me and though she really can't be found in any pictures, I assure you, she was there!

I'm going to attempt to actually bake with a majority of the apples we picked.  Our neighbors made a DELICIOUS apple crisp the other day and so I'm definitely open to any recipes that include apples...you know, because I have so much free time these days. :)