Apples & Pumpkins

It's fall! Finally! Sadly, spring and fall do not last long in Georgia. We've decided to take advantage of Georgia's amazing but short fall season by both an apple orchard and a pumpkin patch recently. I have never been to an apple orchard or a pumpkin patch. I know that might be hard to believe considering Burt's Pumpkin Patch is a big deal where we live and I've lived in the North Georgia area for 18 years. No one ever took me and although I've expressed interest in going with Ryan over the years, we just never made it. Now we have M and more incentive to take her, if for no other reason than a cute photo session.

A few weeks ago I was checking out the daily deals on Groupon, they were advertising a great deal for BJ Reece Apple House. For $12, the package included:

• Admission for two (a $4 value) * Kids under 3 are free*
• A 1/4-peck of self-picked apples (a $4 value)
• A hayride for two (a $6 value)
• Petting farm admission for two (a $6 value)
• Apple cannon fun with one basket of apples (a $5 value)

It took us about an hour to get to BJ Reece, which worked out great for us. M took a nap and was in a great mood when we arrived. I was surprised by how large the orchard was. There are actually 2 orchards, one on either side of the street. We arrived later than we had hoped to (we're never on time anymore) and decided to stay on the main side of the road where the store and petting farm are located. The opposite side of the street is where they offer hayrides and since we didn't make it to that side, we didn't take advantage of the hayride for 2 that was part of the package deal. The first thing we did was claim our bag for apple picking and enter the orchard. Our next stop was the apple cannon. Ryan was really looking forward to shooting apples 500 feet across a field. The line was packed with people and moving at a ridiculously slow pace. Ryan stood in line for 15 minutes without moving while M and I sat in the shade of an apple tree where M made friends with a boy a few years older than her. When Ryan decided he didn't want to wait in the line for the canon any longer, we told M to say "bye-bye" to her little buddy and she blew him kisses while he hid behind his mother and gave her a shy grin. Our little girl is a flirt! Before filling our bag with hand-picked apples, we headed over to the petting zoo. If you ever want us to go somewhere just mention that the venue has a petting zoo and we won't be able to resist. We love petting zoos! I was impressed with the amount of animals they had. There were at least 20 or maybe 30 fainting goats, enough chickens to fill 10 KFC buckets, bunnies, pigs and piglets, puppies, and even a mini horse! We spent the majority of our time chasing down animals and forcing them to let us pet them and scratch their ears. I even stole an apple from a baby goat and fed it to the hungry looking mini horse. Just as the orchard was preparing to shut down for the day, we quickly filled our bag with delicious apples and made our way back to our car for the scenic drive home through the hills of North Georgia.We really had a great time and we will definitely be back. My only complaints: It was impossible to push a stroller up and down the gravel paved hills of the orchard. While at the petting zoo, I did notice a few pieces of broken glass on the ground, there were a few abandoned pull behind trailors and various farm equipment laying around for kids to climb on, and the chicken coop where the bunnies, puppies and mini horse were kept was kind of falling apart. All in all though it was a lot of fun! Oh, and of course I used my apples for baking. I baked Martha's Apple Crsip and Caramel Apple Cupcakes. Yum.

After visiting the apple orchard, we knew we wanted to take M to the Pumpkin Patch. We planned on going to Burt's but after seeing a Groupon deal for Warbington Farms we ended up going there instead, although we didn't end up buying the deal. I'm not sure what I expected since I've never been to a pumpkin patch. However, I've been hearing about how fantastic Burt's is for years. Maybe I went into it with higher expectations than I should have but I was a little disappointed. The pumpkin patch wasn't that big, the pumpkins were over-priced, and the petting zoo consisted of 5 goats in a pen and you could stick your hands through the wire and pet them. There were apparently hay rides but I think they were for older kids. I was under the impression that there was a store that offered fresh veggies but when we went into the store all we saw were a few jars of some really old looking jam (I didn't think jam could look old but it can people, it can). They did offer pony rides which we considered taking M on but I didn't want to have to go back into the dusty little store and buy a ticket. So, we took some pictures and left. Like I said, maybe I went into it with higher expectations than I should have but I was not impressed. We did get a lot of cute pictures though and we stopped by BJ's on our way home and bought cheaper pumpkins. Maybe we'll try Burt's.