Cranes!

We finally made it to Cranes this year!

Last year we went a little earlier in the fall season. I was in the early stages of pregnancy and remember feeling soooo sick! Still, we had a good time and vowed to return this year.

We did, but just barely! haha! We arrived the very last hour, on the last day that Cranes was offering hay rides and cow train rides! Seriously, we were the last hay ride to go out!

Of course the boys didn't know or care that we were the last riders, they were just excited to be there!!

We had so much fun!

Yup, that's Chris along for the ride too!

Our Morning at the Apple Orchard

This morning we went apple picking. 

My little worker bees, without hardly any help, picked 35 pounds in about half an hour! They loved it!

Owen hung out in the Ergo and helped me take some pictures.

Carter, can't wait to get started!

Everett

Finn

Colin

Finn

Colin and Carter

Now off to make some apple sauce!

The Mom Stays In the Picture...at the Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon we took the boys to Cranes in Fennville, MI. It was our first time and we really enjoyed ourselves!

Here comes the tractor to pick us up for a hayride!

Ready...

1, 2, 3 nobody look at the camera! 

Actually this picture made me laugh because I can imagine just what each one of them was thinking. Everett is already planning what kind of shenanigans he can get into along this ride (turns out he finds many ways). Finn, is taking it all in and maybe remembering a book about tractors that we've read together. He is a thinker! Colin is SO excited! Carter is skeptical but finds Colin's enthusiasm intriguing.  

Family pic! Once again, on the count of three..... nobody look at the camera!

Go time!

Colin said, "This is SO amazing!" 

Carter, on the other hand, doesn't look convinced yet.

We rode through the apple orchards and then through the woods. The trees were absolutely beautiful and reminded me why I love fall in Michigan.

Next up, the cow train. Also really fun... and really bumpy. Colin loved it though!

 After riding the rides, we went across the street to pick our pumpkins. As it turns out, the wheelbarrow they give you for collecting pumpkins is also a perfect toddler-mobile. 

On the hunt!

It was a special day. In truth I spent much of this weekend writing a paper for my Neuroscience class. Blah! But come 2 p.m. on Sunday, nothing could stop me from our family trip to the pumpkin patch. There is nothing better than having fun with your children and seeing their faces light up during these adventures. Colin was remembering last year when we did something similar outside Chicago, so for him it's becoming a tradition. For the triplets, this was all new for them as their little brains don't remember our wild adventure last year :) Watching them run around the pumpkin patch pointing to pumpkins and calling them "apples!" (their new favorite snack!) was so fun.

And here's a self taken pic of me in the pumpkin patch:

Did you read this mom's story? 

The Mom Stays in the Picture by Allison Tate.

I did and I nodded in full agreement. I saw a lot of myself in her, as apparently so many other mom's did too! I've always been more comfortable behind the camera and since starting this blog I've realized that I mostly take pictures of my children and husband without me in the frame. I'm vowing to get in the picture more even if I'm not as thin as I once was and most days feel anything but camera ready. I want my boys to see me in this blog too. 

The everyday me.

Their mama.