Fall

My favorite season.  I've been preparing Oliver for the changing of the leaves and tried to share my enthusiasm for Fall.  Joe and Oliver have been endlessly raking leaves, but our yard has so many trees they seem to cover the grass as quickly as they are removed.  The temperature went back up and the mosquitoes are back, which makes it not quite feel like Fall yet.  But, it is still great to see Oliver embracing the new season.

We have been apple picking a couple times now.  First, with grandma when she came to town to help out while Joe was essentially incapacitated with poison ivy about 3 weeks ago.  Joe's week of misery should get its own post, but frankly it was too disgusting to talk about.  If you Google poison ivy rash, you will get the idea.  If you see the images and say to yourself, it could not have been that bad...yes, it was THAT bad.  He was exposed while clearing out some "weeds" near the garage.  He had on work gloves and a t-shirt so the situation was his from his wrists to his biceps.  With the help of some medical intervention he is recovered, but his arms are still healing.  As for the apple picking we had a blast taking grandma to one of our favorite weekend destinations.

No hesitation.

As far as Oliver is concerned, "if you pick it, you eat it."

He happily walked the orchard while noshing on his apple.

We walked the raspberries too, grandma picked and Oliver ate.

Watching the "dust fly off the wheels of the cars."

The car ride home, falling asleep with is Tractor Mac book.

Today we met up with our pals Heather, Scott, and Celia (3 years).  Oliver was looking forward to seeing his friend.  When we got to the orchard, they had already arrived and were picking raspberries.  When we walked over to the orchard, Oliver said, "No, want to pick apples with Celia."  I asked if he wanted to wait for her, which he did.  After about 5 minutes, he was done waiting and ready to go pick apples.  But, I thought it was really sweet that he was so excited to see her.  Celia was equally happy to see Oliver and gave him lots of hugs and kisses.  Both kids seemed to enjoy picking apples and pumpkins as well as spending time together.

Too bad about the light, I just love this picture of them.

Oliver was equally as excited about the hay as he was the pumpkins.

I asked Oliver if he wanted to give Celia a hug, he immediately leaned in and the next few minutes were adorable.

He asks to "read a book" in the car now.  Which he quietly did for most of the ride home.