Fall, Phase 5

Visitors, visitors, and more visitors! We love them. We live for them. We wait anxiously for them to get here. We mourn the day they leave. Fall is the time for visitors for us.

My brother and his "good" friend (wink, wink) came to visit us the 2nd week of October. We had a blast and loved sightseeing, eating out, ushering (more on that later), and talking late into the night.

Day 1: Skyline Drive. LOVE this place. Never been there when it's been engulfed in "Civil War Fog" (as we call it in our house). But there's a 1st for everything. It was eerily cool, though.

You may be wondering why we all settled on the same color scheme for a night out on the town. I've been lucky enough to usher at Ford's Theatre downtown whenever a new show comes out. It just happened that all my friends I'd signed up with cancelled (except Rachel who rocked and ended up babysitting for us) so that the four of us could go together and usher for Parade. LOVED it. Such great music, such amazing actors.

We also hit up the Jefferson Memorial, which is one of my favorites. I think it often gets overlooked because it's not on the actual Mall, you have to walk a ways to get there, but it's beautiful sitting there on the Tidal Basin, and although my favorite time to go there is during Cherry Blossoms, it was just as pretty with the Fall colors.
I loved this picture (I hope it's okay I'm posting it, Daniel, for all the world to see on this very blog.)

Although I was so sad Daniel and Chalyse left too soon, I was overjoyed to have Jenn & Co. roll in 2 days later. Jenn is my BYU BFF. I love her to death and it amazes me we've stayed friends for over a decade, laughing and picking up right where we left off. I have come to love her hubby too and now her sweet little Magnolia. Bundle of Adorable is all I have to say about that.
We loved touring DC by night (first time, but I don't think the last- it was seriously awesome), crafting together (not the guys), strolling through Georgetown, visiting the new MLK Memorial (we were definitely the minority there- I'm just sayin'), and playing Partini late into the night. So many laughs. Such good food. Love these people!

Doesn't he look like the Sphinx?

Lastly we just said good-bye to my Grandma and her husband, Phil (they celebrated their 5th anniversary at our house!). Grandma was out in March, but this was Phil's first time at our house. To put it softly, our girls ADORED them in every way possible. They were loving and hugging on them every time I turned around. Addison is in love with old men (don't ask me, but the only way we survive Nursery is with the help of two gray old men in there with her) so she was in absolute heaven. They read books together, Grandma told stories and retold old memories and Makenna ate it all up. We wished it didn't have to go by so fast; we were surely sorry to see them go.

The "Occupy" DC protest group. Looks like the exact opposite of fun to me.

I absolutely love this lady. I have so many wonderful childhood memories with her and it warms my heart to see Makenna and Addison making their own memories with her.


We LOVE visitors out here on this side of the country. We're looking forward to Grandma Karen coming this weekend for Thanksgiving and then Grandma Donna coming the morning after Christmas!

Fall, Phase 4

Hello, my name is Kara and I'm addicted to...

RIBBON.

And this is why:
For the past 3 Falls that have come around (and occasionally in between), I've made the long trek up to Hagerstown, MD. There's a little gem of a store up there in this historic town that calls my name, teasing, taunting me until I give in. Ever heard of the Ribbon Outlet? No worries, I hadn't either until she introduced me to it. Where I am singing her praises for the introduction, Drew is cursing her name for the same reason. I never knew I needed 60 yards of 1-inch autumn-orange grosgrain ribbon until I spotted it from across the room and it called to me, whispering, "Pick me up Kara. I'm only $1.25. What's the harm in bringing home a monster spool of ribbon for a mere $1.25?" My problem is that I fear for his loneliness in my Ikea ribbon box and so I throw in 10 or 15 of his friends...every time. And before I know it, I'm the proud owner of a lovely 30-yard spool of 2-inch leopard print fabric ribbon that I just KNOW I'll find use for someday.

There, it's out. I've confessed what I've come here to confess. Ah, I feel like a weight's been lifted from my shoulders. No need to hide my secret jaunts up there and then minimize the enormity of my loot once I come home. Now, onto my stash. You're curious, aren't you? You wouldn't think I'd tease you with the thought of a Crafter's Mecca and then not give you any proof of its existence, would you?

This is what I brought home a few weekends ago on my latest run up there. Sum of my purchase: $25.

Each bag you see was a mere .20 for a total of $1.00 for everything in this picture. Have I converted you yet? The only downside to buying these bags is you have to sit there and roll it once you're home. Helps if you have a super awesome hubby who'll acquiesce and "roll with it".

Lastly, each little spool of red was .10, for a total of $3.80 for all those spools. Brown ribbon was $2.00/spool.

And just to show you that my addiction has not gone to waste:
My latest Fall craft. I seriously love how it turned out. Got the idea here. Didn't turn out quite as cute, but it still found a home in my entryway.

The "L" in my FALL mantle arrangement.

Lest we forget my other obsession? Hair bows for the girls. The holder and the bows themselves were the direct result of ribbon outlet ribbon.

And just to remind me to keep my addiction at bay, a daily reminder that I probably don't need any more...for now.

It's fun to have a little addiction, though.

Fall, Phase 3

For the past 3 years we've gone apple picking as a family at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville. It's super fun. They're delicious. We go to Michie Tavern for lunch afterward. It's a grand time. It was conveniently located 45 min. from Richmond when we lived there. It's now not-so-conveniently located 2.5 hours from our house.

So this year we "branched" out and drove to a picturesque family farm in Markham called Hartland Orchard. LOVED IT.

A few comparisons we made while there, leading to our change of loyalty from Carter Mountain to Hartland (sad, but inevitable):

1. Hartland's plethora of apple varieties puts Carter Mtn. to shame. Our favorites: York, Fuji, and Granny Smith. Delicious.

2. Hartland lets you drive your car THROUGH the orchards to your desired picking spot, instead of having to park in a parking lot and trudge your family up a hill. Totally convenient.

3. Both places have apple pickers, which are heavy but awesome. Not recommended for kids. (Not even recommended for weak-armed moms who've slacked going to the gym all summer.)

4. On top of their gargantuan apple orchard, they've got over 4 acres of pumpkin plants so you can harvest your own pumpkin. This, admittedly, was only fun for Drew and me; the girls were not so impressed. Mostly they liked the wagon ride through the pumpkin jungle and were bugged by all the, well...bugs. I'm not sure, though, how I feel about our ONE 25 pound pumpkin costing more than our whole PECK of apples (I'm not sure how many pounds that is, but it's a ton, I assure you).

5. Although Carter Mountain has fresh-made apple doughnuts ready to devour after you've picked all your apple loot, Hartland offers apple-butter-making demonstration outside, a huge pumping cider press, and beautiful, cheap gourds by the crate-ful.

6. Also, Carter Mtn. charges you by the pound for you fruit, which can get pricey (we usually walk away muttering to ourselves, "How the heck did we just spend 25 bucks on apples???). Hartland, however, charges by the bag-ful, or peck. $10 flat rate- however many apples you can fit in a bag. Score.

So far we've made 2 batches of applesauce and caramel apples. Mmmmm...

7. And lastly, although we love the experience of indulging in colonial American food at Michie Tavern after Carter Mountain, Cafe Rio in Manassas was waiting for us on the ride home. Who can complain with that compromise?

Now THAT was a good day.

Addison has a cold. Makenna is starting to get one. I'm not letting them share sippy cups because I don't want them to swish swash their germs.

This afternoon Makenna picked up Addison's cup and asked, "Does this have Germans on it?"

This morning I woke up to find both my girls asleep in bed with us. After a couple hours of putting up with their kicking, pushing, and general restlessness, I roll over and Makenna declares, matter-of-factly, "Move Mom. You're in my space."

Thanks kid. Right back at ya.

Fall, Phase 2

One of our favorite things to do in the Fall, probably THE favorite, is to visit Cox Farms. In looking back through our blog, I wanted to link up to past posts I'd done about Cox, then realized I've NEVER DONE ONE! I can't believe this, especially since this place is so amazing. So I've come up with a Top 10 list for you in case you've never been.

Top 10 Reasons to Pay a Visit to Cox Farms:
1. It's one of the cheapest family dates around. In fact, up until this year, it's been absolutely free. Now, for online members (I get their newsletter once a year), it only costs $5 per person (over 2). Amazing deal, right? For our entire family to partake in 5 fun-filled hours of farming goodness, it was all of $15. DEAL.

2. The slides. Take a look at the pictures. 'Nuf said.

3. The hayride, which just keeps getting better every year. From Dora to Strawberry Shortcake to dancing aliens to the presidential line-up, just about every pop culture icon imaginable is there to greet you on this zany hayride.

4. Goat Village. A chance for kids to feed the goats from an ice cream cone filled with goat feed in it. We were convinced they starve the poor goats for 2 weeks previous to opening weekend, just so they'll eagerly engage with "the hand that feeds them".

5. A plethora of wood cutouts for picture posers. This is the first year I haven't had to bribe Makenna with oodles of kettle corn in order to get her to pose behind the creepy wooden figures. In fact, she was BEGGING me to take her picture. "Look Mom! I'm a farmer!" "Look Mom, I'm Dorothy!" and "Here Addison, stand here and stick your head through there. It's not scary."

6. The PHAT hay bales that dot the festival for kids of all ages to jump off. Makenna put many kids her age to shame by unhesitatingly taking a leap off the top.

7. Free apples and apple cider. Enough to get you drunk off its goodness. The first year we went, we spotted families filling up canteens and jugs with the cider(I thought it was a little shady, but I didn't blame them- IT'S SO GOOD). Then last year they had signs up everywhere, warning those hoarders to "beware".

8. A fun chance to hang out with friends. We've been going with the same friends for the past three years, which is always a blast. This year, though, word got out and we had a ton more families there with us!

9. Free pumpkins to take home! Each person scores a little pumpkin upon their departure.

10. Perfect Fall photo-op, resulting in tons of cute shots of the kids and family.

Love this place. If you live in the area, we'll see you there next year. If not, go find a rockin' Fall Festival near you and enjoy this gorgeous time of year!