"Fall"ing In Love

What’s not to love about fall, especially when you’re living in the Midwest and it’s 75 degrees out! I’m not going to complain.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve had a Fall-apalooza of sorts. It kicked off with East High’s homecoming, which we make sure to attend every year to support the big event Matt puts a great deal of time in as student council advisor.

However, this year, because of less than stellar weather, the girls and I just stuck around for the parade and tailgate. Can’t say I minded much. I was picturing what it would be like to keep Jaisa still for any longer than 5 minutes in the bleachers and it just wasn’t happening. What can I expect from a two-year-old, right? So we let Matt do his homecoming thing – announcing the football game and herding his student council troupe through another successful homecoming.

Ella, Jaisa and I had our own fun—apple picking. This was a new adventure for me and the girls and it went perfectly. We got to the orchard with an hour to spare before closing time. Racing from tree to apple-laden tree, we picked 15 pounds of apples in less than half an hour and had plenty of time for Ella and Jaisa to each dig their teeth into juicy, ripe apples right off the branch. I have a feeling this will become a yearly tradition. Lucky for me, I love traditions and this is one worth repeating!

This past weekend, we meet up with some friends and their kids and continued our annual tradition to Little Farmer Orchard. Because of the amazing weather, it was packed as anyone would expect, but we had a great time picking out pumpkins, snuck a few apples off the tree, climbed the gigantic hay mound, let the kids get us out of a corn maze (I seriously thought we were going to need a rescue squad to get us out of there…worth every bit of the $2.75!), and ended the day with gooey slices of caramel apples with sprinkles.

  

 

 

Yesterday, I looked at my fruit drawer in the fridge and knew I had to do something with the nearly 15 pounds of apples which we barely made a dent in. Time for apple crisp! Remember the recipe I raved about last year? Well, it’s back, baby! I suggest you get your paring knife ready. It's apple peeling time! After a fall cook-out for dinner last night, a dessert of apple crisp hit the spot. Everyone went crazy over it…well, except for Jaisa, but there’s not much that girl likes these day so I didn’t take offense. Seriously, fall is not complete until you’ve tried this crisp!

What’s next for the Hoot’s Fall-apalooza? This coming weekend, we head to another pumpkin patch, but this time with Cousin Jack. Then Matt and I head to Lambeau Field with the Finns for Packers Sunday! Not a bad fall weekend if I do say so myself.

What are some of your favorite fall traditions?