Fall

Fall is by far and way my favorite season!  What's not to like about back to school, apple cider, sweaters, changing leaves and comfort food?  I love this time of year when the weather is cool and Colorado could be any more gorgeous, so we have been trying to get out and enjoy it as much as we possibly can. 

For the past few years I have had my eye on an apple orchard up in Longmont that lets you pick your own apples.  They are a pretty small orchard for now and only allow for picking with reservations,  the catch is that you have to plan your visit months in advance to get one of those coveted spots.  Last year we were still able to visit the orchard for a picnic, hayride and apple cider donuts, but after the past 3 years of failed attempts to get on "the list" I finally figured out the system and got our name in early this year so that we could pick own apples.  Our favorite Longmont residents, the Nichols, came with us too...yeah! 

After a little bit of instruction on how to pick the best ones, Riley and James started in on the cute little trees.  She did a great job of helping me fill our bag and also filling her little tummy with some apple along the way.  The orchard has an adorable little farm store where they sell apples, cider, pie and the most scrumptious apple cider donuts that you have have tasted (I may have been dreaming about these for the past few weeks).  Before dashing out with our haul of apples to go dig into our cider and donuts, Riley also wanted to buy a basket of apples to feed the horses that live there.  It was such a fun fall outing and all of the apples allowed me to indulge my other fall fave...baking!  We made a really yummy apple pie.

This past weekend was the peak of fall color up in the mountains, so we packed a picnic and our girls and headed up to Kenosha Pass for a hike.  It turns out that us and half of the Denver Metro had the same idea.  Despite lots of people along the way and a little whining from my self proclaimed lallygager, we all enjoyed the walk and the amazing colors up there.  Piper could not have been happier plopped down in the leaves and could not take her eyes or hands off of the dirt, leaves and sticks it was a complete sensory experience including the tree bark she sampled during our photo shoot.

Happy Fall!