Apple Picking

We went apple picking last weekend.  It was mid-day, so try to ignore the horrid shadows.  There's only so much I can do for those.   :)

Emma is such a cheese ball.  She likes to make crazy faces whenever I try to take a picture.

My 3 little pumpkins.

Pickin' apples with my ladies.  They wanted to pull that wagon so bad.  The only problem was that they couldn't control it going downhill, and didn't want to pull on the uphills.  And, uh, this orchard's not really flat.

I still don't know why Emma's not in the bear picture.  She LOVES bears, and claims all are "her" bears.

That's Julie back there.

Emma

J & E working on their letter sounds.

They totally got in like this on their own.  Um, because they didn't want to walk anymore.

We got a few comments on the shirts, and someone asked me where we got them (Target, people.  It's not rocket science.), and I'll admit I brought some of it on myself.  It wasn't my original intention.   Emma and Rebecca were already dressed in something else, and I can't remember if someone took what Julie wanted, or if I was trying to convince her not to wear something she wanted to wear, I remembered the "new" pumpkin shirts.  And, of course, once Julie had one, the others wanted them.  Ok, fine.  So, of course there were lots of "Are they triplets?" questions.

But then?  Someone random asked if they could take a picture of them.  I mean, we were in public, so anyone could take a picture.  I gave her a funny look, because I thought it was rude.  And she laughed and said something like, "I know it's weird, but I want to show my husband."

I guess I just get tired of it.  I can only handle the attention for so long, and then it just starts to drive me crazy.  Really?  What, are my kids a freak show for your entertainment?

So she's trying to take a picture, and Emma's freaking out because she hears a tractor and she thinks it's going to run us over.  I'm glad she got a crappy picture.

Sigh.

Checking out the pumpkins.

Apple juice.

We finished up around lunch time, so we could either go to the one place nearby that was sure to be packed, or drive an hour towards home where the girls would surely fall asleep.

So, we stayed close.  It's fabulous brick oven pizza, but it also takes quite a while.  And three tired, hungry kids does not make for an enjoyable wait.  So yes, we were those parents, entertaining our kids with cell phones.

I like this one for the hint of purple sparkle nail polish left on her pinky from the NICU reunion.

In this one, you can see a tear.  :)

And then completely passively watching Doc McStuffins, once I finally got it to work.  4G is hit or miss in the mountains.

Apple Picking with Pneumonia

See, she didn't look sick, right?  (And yes, Bear is wearing an outfit she used to wear (!), and a reindeer bib from her first Christmas.)

When we got there, they kept instructing us that you don't pick apples off the ground, just off the trees.

And then no pictures as she went into her coughing fit.  I carried her back up to the barn and got her a drink.

Oh, and a donut.  Did I forget to mention the donut?  The nice thing about going in mid-August is that it wasn't too busy (though it was MUCH busier than other times we've been there in mid-August).  Otherwise, the line for donuts is ridiculous.

This is an Emma look at the moment.  She's being tricky.  Or sneaky.  I can't remember.

And a chance for some self portraits with my girl.

Posing with her foot on the cinder block.

After Daddy got back with Julie and Rebecca (and two baskets of apples!), they wanted to go play.  Emma's coughing seemed to have subsided, so we let them.  Julie was in the big pumpkin, instructing me on something.

We got back in the car, and had some apples.  Becca ate all the skin off hers.

Becca, finished.  I'm not sure this picture does justice to just how little apple was left.  That whole piece in her hand was about an inch long.  She.  Ate.  It.  All.

As for Emma, we did end up keeping her home all week.  She slept through the night on Wednesday and Thursday nights.  Nights had been hardest - she'd wake up, thrash around, and then end up in a coughing fit.  She's still coughing some during the day, and I think she's still really tired.  Her breathing rate has slowed down, but I'm still hesitant to let her run around.  We have a recheck in another week, but I'm thinking about taking her back in just to let someone listen to her and confirm that she's getting better.

Apple picking

I'm so far behind!  We actually went to this new place almost 2 weeks ago now, partly because it was closer (and was something we could do in half a day, including lunch) and partly because the old place is just so busy... and has lots of hills.

So we took the wagons (this is where Becca insisted they were "dragons"), which certainly made it easier.  But once we got to the trees where the apples were, the girls were clearly more interested in the wagons and pulling them around than they were the apples.

Julie's in the wagon that Emma is pulling.

I like this one, primarily as comparison to an awfully similar picture from last year.

Emma hordes the apples - 2011

Emma hordes the apples - 2010

They had some other stuff to do there, and we're planning to go back another time this season.  We were intent on getting the girls to eat lunch and fall asleep in the car.  Of course, that didn't happen.

Anyhow, while Greg was loading all of our crap stuff into the car, I let the girls run over and check out the little school bus cutout.  

Julie, Em, Becca

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Another blur of a weekend gone by.

To combat the girls' nap protest, we had this grand plan: We'll take them to Costco and feed them lunch, do our shopping, and let them fall asleep in the car on the way home. So this was the first weekend I tried it. After Becca ate a whole Costco hot dog and 1/4 slice of pizza, Emma ate 3/4 slice of pizza, and Julie ate half a hot dog and 1/4 slice of pizza, we shopped. And about a third of the way home, I realized they weren't asleep. And they weren't going to fall asleep. Genius me bought a new rake at Costco. And the only way I could figure (at the time) to get it home was through the middle of the car. Which meant that Emma and Julie fought over the handle and pushed and pulled and twisted the rake into me and Rebecca the whole way home.

Our "big plans" day was Sunday. We went to the Apple Festival and walked around for a bit, but it was hot. We ate as much good food as we could while we were there.

...apple slices

...fried apple pie

...apple ice cream

...apple juice

And when we were hot and sweaty and full, we ventured to the Air Museum.

"Flying" out to see the biplane.

And if that wasn't enough, we drug the girls apple picking next.






We were all pretty worn out by then, so we decided to go get some pizza for an early dinner. The girls all took a short nap on the way to get pizza - maybe 15 minutes at most. But when we got there, they were too tired to eat. I seriously don't know that I've ever seen them turn down pizza. I think Emma just stared at the soda machine the whole time we were there.

So, they crashed on the 1.5 hr drive back home, right? Nope. Wide awake. Chasing each other around when we got home.