Fun in the Making: Apple pickin'

This weekend was beautiful. Warmer, dry and a little bit of sun. We decided yesterday morning to cross apple picking off our list and head to Mt. Hood. We got ready and on the road by 10 am. I still have not bought the boys rain boots but we were going to drive by Target so I thought we could pick some up there even though I usually don't like the styles they have. We got to Target and they had exactly three pairs of rain boots. In Oregon. In October. None of which were Joe's size. They had a whole aisle of snow boots, but no rain boots. Not sure what was going on with that. So we ran into Ross, Marshall's, DSW. No rain boots. So I googled on my phone and found a Stride Rite in Clackamas that we could go to. I needed to get Sam his first real pair of shoes too. They didn't have shoes for Sam that I liked but they did have Batman rain boots for Joe.

We wandered around the mall for awhile. I am not sure when the last time was that I was in a mall. Its been awhile. It was actually fun though. We got pretzels, we people watched. I did early Christmas shopping. We laughed. Then we decided to skip apple picking and go to Ground Kontrol (arcade in downtown Portland) instead. I remembered my October goals though and the weather was great so I kept us on course to go apple picking.

For the past three Octobers, we have gone to Draper Girls Country Farm in Parkdale, Oregon. They have lots of apples, pears, other fruits and veggies, an antique store, petting zoo. The drive is easy to get there and pretty. Drive through the gorge, take a right at Hood River. Head south 10 or so miles, you are there! We picked our basket of apples and pears, sampling along the way. I can never remember what types are good for eating vs. baking. This year I used my phone to remind me. I got Empire, Gala, Golden Supreme. Now I have to get started using them! I planned to start today but I have been feeling not so well so it was more of a lay around the house type of day.

yeah, glad we got those boots before we went. it was muddy. lots of puddle jumpin' going on.

apples beg to be sampled. this one was an empire, a cross between a macintosh and a red delicious. which is funny because it *was* delicious and red delicious is one of my least favorite apples.