Apple Orchard 2013

Once again, we made our annual pilgrimage to the apple orchard this fall.  This year we tried a new orchard called Apple Jacks in Delano, MN.  It was about 30 minutes west of Minneapolis so it was a bit of a drive but well worth it!  Our friends Matt and Kelly came with us and brought their daughter, and one of Emma's besties, Kya along.

 The orchard was GREAT!  Some of the hit attractions included:

A cow train.  No, not actual cows.  Rather, it was a bunch of old barrels with seats in them for the kiddies.  All the "cows" had names, Emma's was Sadie.  They seemed to get along great on their journey around the field.

They also had this really cool inflatable jumpy thing that they called a "jumping pillow."  It. Was. Awesome!  I wanted to go on it but I was told that wouldn't be appropriate.  Emma was pretty pumped at first and charged right up on the jumpy thing only to get bounced off when some bigger kids came bounding along.  Then she didn't think it was so cool.  But after some hand holding and peer pressure from Kya, she was all about bouncing around.

Then of course there were the apples.  It took us a while to convince Emma that the apples on the tree were a lot better than the apples that were on the ground.  She eventually got the concept and was a big helper!

Once we got our apple home, we got right to work making some yummy apple sauce and Melissa whipped up some even yummier apple crisp.  First we had to peel and core the apples, which is quite a job unless you have this handy little tool, and little handy Emma, to help out.

Looking forward to our visit to the orchard next year.  Chances are we'll be heading back to Apple Jack's.

With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, and Emmsa

Summer Summary

Apparently it was a pretty busy summer. So busy in fact that I didn't have any time to keep up with the blogging.  Originally, I was going to skip over recapping the summer, but there are too many good pictures not to share them.  So here are f highlights and memories from warmer times. :)

My amateur attempt at a photo shoot.  I took a photography class and tried putting some skills to use.  I'll keep practicing. :)

We made it to several Twins games again this season. Emma especially loved TC!

No, this is not a shout out to TLC's female R&B singer / rapper Left Eye, this is the typical outcome of Emma's art projects.  She loves to paint and most (some) of the time she gets the paint on the paper.

She was particularly proud of this painting, and in fact, it is still taped up on the wall in our living room!

If Emma wasn't at the park and she wasn't painting this summer, there's a good chance she was doing some baking.  It is a favorite hobby of her and her mommy.  They made these brownies for Father's Day - creative and delish!

Muffins are a common product from our kitchen.  If you've had a muffin that Emma has had her hands in making over the past year, you've probably noticed that it is rare to find one without sprinkles (or as pronounced by Emma, "Frinkles").

We spent several weekends in Okoboji, enjoying the sunshine, boating, and time with family.

We loved spending time outside.  If it we weren't at the park, we were in the yard or taking a walk up and down the sidewalk.  Emma also loved to tool around on her trike.  She is finally getting big enough to pedal on her own, kind of.

Working on a little tricycle maintenance.

We even made it to the Minnesota State Fair, where we caught a close-up of TC, drank fresh chocolate milk, devoured some mini-donuts, and pet livestock of all kinds.

Emma was more excited about TC than the cows.

It was a great summer!  One of the things I most enjoyed was being active with Emma and watching her become so independent in her activities.  She definitely is developing a mind of her own, but at the same time likes to be right by Melissa's or my side wanting to be our helper and doing what we are doing.  She is the best!

Stay tuned for more!  With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, Emma