A Perfect Fall Birthday

Last Saturday was Eric's birthday.  Yup, he's still younger than me, so it doesn't really matter how old he is right?  I tried to make it sound like he was older by having Emma say "million" after his age, but it backfired on me, because she just started to say "billion" after mine.  Oh well.  Good thing I don't really care about my age.  I'm old, and I'm okay with it.  =)  Bring on the white hair.

There is almost nothing that would make me want to get up earlier than I have to.  I am a night owl, and can't shake it, which makes me absolutely NOT a morning person.  Unfortunately there is almost always something going on which makes me have to get up.  Blech.  But I find I am more willing to get up if it means enjoying Autumn.  It's a magical time of year, evidenced by the fact that I willingly get up early for it's grandeur.

So we got up early on Saturday to go apple picking.  This was our very favorite activity last year, and we couldn't wait to go again.  Sadly, the honey crisps were not available this year because of our drought in early summer, so we had to settle for lesser apples.  We picked some jonathans and golden delicious, which are both fabulous.  So settling didn't really feel like settling.  It might have if we were doing a side to side comparison to the honey crisps, but we weren't.  See?  I'm trying to accentuate the positive.  Okay honestly, how many of you just started to sing that line?  Or am I the only one who knows old songs like that?  Oh well.  There I go again showing my age.

This was our view on our way to the orchard.  Just a beautiful drive.
Worth it even without the apple payload.

Anyway, there were a few other families going apple picking that morning as well, but we needed to be done a little earlier than them, so we got to the orchard right when they opened and were gone before we saw anyone we knew.  I don't know exactly why it is always so much fun to go apple picking, but it is.  We took a few pictures this year too, although none were quite as magical as last years'.  Emma must have known we were going to be right along the border with Illinois, because she wanted to show her loyalties with all her Packers gear.

The orchard itself is quite beautiful.  And this year we had the place all to ourselves.  We were the first ones in (with no one in line behind us), and only saw a couple other people before we left.  Not having to deal with the crowds on honey crisp day made for a much different, but equally enjoyable experience.

Road connecting one part of the orchard with another.

There was a fabulous crispness to the air that was very invigorating.  Emma was very disappointed that she couldn't eat the apples this year.  She hardly has any teeth in the front of her mouth, which makes it almost impossible for her to bite into an apple.  We cut them up at home for her, but that didn't really help her much at the orchard.  We did, however, go to a neighboring farm to try out their donuts we'd heard so much about.  They did not disappoint.  They were quite delicious.

Emma attempting to eat an apple.

The birthday boy! 

Eric eating a small funny shaped apple that Emma found.

After we were done apple picking, we took Emma to a birthday party for one of her friends, which gave me the perfect chance to take Eric out for a yummy birthday lunch.  It was nice having a few minutes alone with him on this busy day (good stuff, but a lot of it all day).

After picking up Emma we went up to a big park to take some pictures while the fall colors were still around.  There are several pictures I want to share, so I'll add them in a separate post so this one won't be too long.

Our original plan was to have a German feast for dinner (at Eric's request), but we weren't hungry enough for it.  So we pushed the feast back to the next day.  It just kept the celebration going for longer, which I'm sure Eric didn't mind.

I don't know if there could have been a more perfect way to spend the day with my family and celebrate Eric's birthday.  He said countless times how wonderful it was, and I couldn't agree more.  Happy birthday sweetie!