Apple Orchard Fun!

It is sooooooo hard to believe it is already OCTOBER! Yikes, where has this year gone?

Last Sunday, we ventured out on one of our favorite fall activities...a visit to Jonamac Orchard.  This year we went with our neighbor friend since our usual apple pickin' buddies moved far away (to NC).

Our first stop was the store to get some apple cider donuts and an apple cider slushie.  Mmm!  It's a darn good thing Joe suggested we do this first since, when we left the orchard around 1:30 the line for the store was out the door! Yikes!

Next, we checked out some of the pumpkins that were pre-picked and ready to go.

 

Then we jumped on one of the tractor rides that take you around the orchard.  It stops at various places but we really just wanted to go for a ride.

After our wagon ride, we finally got to picking some apples.  The apples they were picking that day were: 

1. Early Fuji (these were NOT as sweet as I hoped like the regular Fuji apples that I love and they were all pretty small)
2. Golden Delicious (mmm...another favorite for me)
3. Red Delicious (yuck, we don't like these)
4. Ruby Jon? (a new variety that is quite tart and super dark in color, they almost looked liked plums)
5. Jonathan (another tart variety)

Some of the apple trees looked more like apple bushes.

 

 

Finally, we saved the best part for last...at least in Henry's mind it is the best part.  Visiting the Jonamac Barn area otherwise known as the play area.  They have a small petting zoo,  a few slides, a giant hay bale area with secret passages, a tractor to play in and on, a silo full of corn to play in (like a giant sandbox), a duck race area and a couple other fun kid attractions. 

 

We always like the donkey best.  Henry liked the two white ducks too.

 

Henry really liked these duck races again.

Henry has yet to even take a ride on the pumpkin train...we had a token for it this year but we usually run out of steam before we get to that option.  Luckily, the loading area isn't in the main line of sight to all the other attractions.

 

King Henry of the hay stacks!

We had a nice time and the weather was beautiful.  A bit warm actually.  We arrived around 10 and didn't leave until 1:30.  It was pretty crowded especially when we were getting close to leaving.

Time to get out those yummy family apple recipes and maybe we'll try something new this year.