Apples - Year 5!!

Well, the first time we went to the mountains to celebrate our anniversary and picked apples I didn't realize how much of a tradition it would become.  We have gone from a self portrait of the two of us, to a family two (with a dog), to a family of three, and now a family of three with one on the way! Its so fun to watch our family grow and change and enjoy a tradition like this year after year.

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3 (expecting little e)

Year 4 - first year w. a baby and no new hand knits - ha!

Year 5 - still no new hand knits :) - and expecting #2

We expanded the tradition after year one to include my cousin and his family.  They live as far from the NC orchard as we do - in the other direction so its a great reason and place to meet.  This year they have a puppy (and two growing kids) and we enjoyed our time with them.

Little e really enjoyed picking apples

My boys

You can get better ones when daddy helps!

The kiddos!!  Love it!

My cousin and his fam

Even though we don't technically go over our anniversary weekend anymore - we still like the idea that its an 'anniversary' tradition and how appropriate to see our family growth captured at the same time every year celebrating our marriage!

Sightseeing

After relaxing and skiing we headed to Boone and Blowing Rock for some sightseeing and shopping.  We had lunch at a great place in Boone (a friend of a friend owns it) and took a peek at Appalachian State's campus.  It was a dreary, rainy day and we walked around Blowing Rock. They had a cute little park and we used a timer (and self portrait stance) to snap a few photos of ourselves...

We also found a great little knit shop (eek! - and um, not by chance) where Eric picked out yarn for his new hat (old one was itchy) and I found a little something for myself too!  You can check out hat details here and here but the yarn...I'll go ahead and share a sneak peak with you...

mmmmm....Malabrigo.  lol.  All you knitting people know what I mean!
We had a great trip to the mountains and came home refreshed and ready for all the Christmas festivities!

I love you... a bushel and a peck

We had SUCH a great time this weekend celebrating our anniversary! Eric planned a trip up to the NC mountains. We had planned to take the motorcycle and ride around and see the leaves - but 40 degree weather put a nix on that. Instead we went in search of apples, pumpkins, street fairs and more and found it all!! We took soo many pictures (b/c we were having soo much fun - that we will probably keep you entertained all week!)

Saturday was cold (and windy and rainy) - but we had fun anyway! We started out going over to the apple orchards in Hendersonville and ended up at Grandad's.


They had a pretty good view and lots of yummy apples (and cider, and fantastic bbq actually).


And...a lot of these signs. which reminds me of the song my mom always used to sing to us


I love you!
A bushel and a peck.
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap.
A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep about you....about me.

(How appropriate for our anniversary right?!?)

Well after fun signs and sing songs... we did a bit of exploring b/c Grandad's had a llama, a goat, some pumpkins and of course some fun picture opportunities. Here we are with the scarecrow (just like a honeymoon - an anniversary trip is still self portraits or one or the other of us!)



Next stop, over by the llamas we found some other fun things...


Finally we decided to get down to business and get some apples! We tried a few varieties but ended up with the Jonagold apples and the Stayman apples.


We had a lot of fun - and there are LOTS more apples, and pictures and fun things to come! Stay tuned....