Fall Adventure! Part II

What better way to lead into this post than with that picture, right? It pretty much says it all... when the Fall Adventure! continued, it was time to go pick some pumpkins! And not just any pumpkins, as you can see above, we went to the "Pick yo own" pumpkin patch! However, we had some traveling to do before we got there...

After we left the apple orchard, we took a little drive through the PA countryside, and came upon the Skippack Days street fair in Skippack Village, PA. (I love that it's a "Village"!) There were tons of vendors everywhere, selling all sorts of crafts, jewelry, antiques, and, of course, lots and lots of food. We grabbed some lunch (though we passed on the deep fried Oreos), and wandered around for a bit. Since our day's budget was already allocated to the apples and pumpkins, we passed on purchasing other goodies, but it was still great to walk around and see what kinds of things creativity inspires in people.

After a jaunt through Skippack, we hit the road again on our way to Winding Brook Farm. Although I wanted a tourist-free setting for apple picking, I totally gave in to the touristy side of things with the pumpkin patch. Part of the reason was that originally, Josh and I were thinking of going through a corn maze... however, after a day of scenic driving, apple picking, street fairing, and pumpkin hunting, we decided corn mazing would just need to wait for another time because our tummies were getting hungry and our feet a little tired.

But! Did we ever have fun hunting for our pumpkin in the pumpkin patch (the "Pick yo own" pumpkin patch, mind you). There were plenty of very gloriously orange pumpkins to choose from...

However, some of them just weren't tall enough to ride the rides.

We found a few other visitors along the way, too:

But then! Oh, then!

I found a tiny little pumpkin to love, and decided it must come home with us.

While I was swooning over my adorable little pumpkin, Josh was busy on the hunt (and graciously carrying the camera case for me). He stopped to inspect a few... and I looking at how tall Josh is (there he goes with his 6'4" business again), I realized how much bigger a pumpkin patch must seem to a small child, with so much amazing, glorious orangeness surrounding you (reminder: my favorite color is orange).

We looked and looked and looked... we had to find one that was just the right shade of orange (very bright), and just the right size (not too big, since it needs to stay inside our house), and just the right shape (round and sturdy, with a big enough side to carve into). And trust me, when it comes to hunting for pumpkins, you just can't settle for anything less than perfect.

Finally, Josh found it! Figures, huh? I think I was too busy being distracted by my cute pumpkin and running around being impressed by all the really enormous pumpkins. Sometimes he's much better than me at focusing on the goal at hand. But I agreed it was perfect, and we were able to go home happy. (Don't worry, the dirt came right off.)


As an end to our Fall Adventure! day, we went to Rock Bottom and celebrated with a belated birthday dinner for Josh. I took him there 3 years ago for his birthday, and he's asked to go every year since. It's just a good place for steaks and micro brews, especially after a Fall day filled with cavorting. Now, we just have to carve our pumpkin and roast us some pumpkin seeds... mmm, pepitas, here we come!

Fall Adventure! Part I

A couple weekends ago, I hatched a plan for a Fall Adventure! with Josh. And yes, just to clarify, it does need to be read with the exclamation point. It wasn't a Fall adventure, or even a Fall Adventure. It was a Fall Adventure! And it was pretty fantastic.

I don't know about you, but when I think about Fall and taking in some of the best things it has to offer, I think about things like apple picking, and hunting in the pumpkin patch, and being outside at fairs. So those are exactly the things we did, with some scenic driving and a great steak dinner at Rock Bottom thrown in, too.

This first installment features largely the apple picking portion of the day. We went up to Frecon Farms in Boyertown, about an hour outside Philly. It was a lovely drive up, and who can beat apples for $0.80/lb? Plus, it was the kind of orchard I wanted... a real orchard and not a tourist trap. So many of the farms around Philly are totally set up to just be moneymakers. I wanted the real deal, and found it. It was great.

To start off, the day we went was bright and clear, but it had been raining for a few days before so it was VERY buggy. However, bugs go for the highest part on your body (usually your head), so Josh decided to add the basket to his 6'4" frame and try to keep the bugs out of his face...

There really were a lot of bugs... check out the one on the sign... fortunately, there were lots more apples than bugs, so the fun wasn't spoiled.

I promise it's not a poison apple - it's the first one I picked! It just looked so delicious that I wanted to share it!

Josh found some good ones, too...

They looked so tempting that I just couldn't help biting into one...

Once we started putting apples in the basket, Josh had to figure out a new bugs-away technique. Good thing orchards have lots of sticks around...

And yeah, I kinda like him. He's my bestest best friend. Ever.

Some of the apples were a little high for me, since I'm only 5'6" and not 6'4", and I had to work a bit to get them (because you know the best are always the highest up)...

But success is so sweet.

Check out the apple jackpot Josh found... though I must admit that's pretty much how all the trees looked...

As you can see, I'm not nearly as sophisticated as Josh. I decided I need to attack the apples. Think bobbing for apples without the bucket. Or the water.

Josh engaged in a little silliness, though... here he's working at "being one with the tree". You can't really see it, but he's actually holding sticks in each hand, adding branches to the tree. Too bad he wasn't wearing brown pants, since he totally had the green shirt thing going on.

Me? I was just happy to be picking apples. Hooray!

And a very buggy picture... as this was being taken, a bug kamikazied into my eye. I'm not kidding in the least. It took about 3 minutes to get it out, and it was BIG. Definitely not a pleasant experience. I think you can even see my right eye twitching in this picture when you look at it close up... but hey, it's still a fun shot anyway.

After paying for our almost 20 pounds of apples (check out the picture here) and a couple cups of apple cider, we bid farewell and hit the road to continue our Fall Adventure! Which, of course, included the street fair and pumpkin picking... but, you'll just have to wait until next time to hear about that. And don't worry, there will be some yummy apple recipes coming along in a bit, too. After all, Fall just isn't the same without the sweet scent of apples and cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves being mulled and baked together. Until then, I hope you get a chance to go enjoy the sights and smells of autumn in your own backyard.

The Goodness of Tuesdays

I don't know about you, but around our house, Tuesdays are good days. This might seem weird, since on Tuesdays you're barely into the work week and Friday is still a number of days away. However, for us, it's date night. Yeah, I know that makes us sound like old married folk, but hey, you've just gotta do what you've gotta do! Given that a lot of church ministries are in the evening, and that Josh (and I, but mostly Josh) is involved with a number of those ministries, it's been important for us to set aside a specific night during the week (and it's our only "free" night Monday through Friday - yes, including Friday). So, Tuesdays are good days.

In the winter months it can be a little harder to find something to do... or rather, harder to find the motivation to leave the house and warm blankets and venture out into the frigidly cold (and dark) evening. However, there are still some fabulous things out there. One such activity is a popular one -- movies. But it's always fun when the movies have a little twist, such as being independent films part of a big film festival.

Last year I found out about the Philadelphia Film Festival rather last minute (as in the day before it ended), and Josh and I just went downtown hoping to get tickets for something... anything. While we didn't get in to our first or second choice (both sold out), we did get tickets to go see Mongol, which actually ended up being a brilliant movie (and got an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, too). This year we were a little more in the know, and bought some tickets early (the ones we could work into our schedule, anyway). I'm super excited.

Tonight we're going to see For My Father, a story about a Palestinian suicide bomber who's bomb doesn't detonate, who is forced into hiding in Israel, and who then meets a Jewish Orthodox woman... yeah, it should be good. We're also going to go see Heart of Stone, which is about a principal in Newark determined to "save his students". Yup, I know I'm predictable, but can you blame me? I'm totally interested to see how they portray things. I also really wanted to see (500) Days of Summer, given that it's been getting fantastic reviews everywhere (and, for once, sounds like a "realistic" love story... excuse me, anti-romantic story), but unfortunately, we had church stuff going on THE ONE DAY they showed it. Boo. (Why just one day? Why?) I'll just have to find it some other time, because it looks quite entertaining.

If you're looking for a film festival near you, you can search on filmfestivals.com. I think they have EVERY film festival in the world. Seriously. Just start looking for ones in the US, and see how long it takes you to get through the ones that start with 'A'..... um, yeah. That's what I thought. So, we're off to have some fun tonight -- hopefully you can find a festival near you and enjoy some indie goodness soon, too!