An Apple A Day!

Your grandfather looks forward to apple picking in the fall. He likes to watch online to see when the various varieties of apples will be available. Then he picks a good day and finds somebody to go with us. To Grampie, there is something special about picking a ripe apple to take home! Some of you have made that trip with us and others haven't yet. More opportunities lie ahead if God wills. Hopefully we get to share one of those days with YOU if we haven't already!

We like the company, the scenery, the fresh air of fall, and -- of course -- the taste of freshly picked apples. We also like to make up applesauce seasoned with a little vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mmmm. We don't make a puree applesauce, but the chunky kind. Having a few chunks of apple and a little of the peel left on for color just lets us know these were freshly hand-picked by us from the trees.

Of course, part of the routine is to have the camera along to keep some lasting souvenirs of our day. The pictures above represent three different apple-picking days and a visit to a corn maze.

Pictures left to right / top to bottom:  Joshua; Amber; Uncle Stephen; Erika, Grampie, Aunt Marcia; Aunt Bethany; Uncle Chris; David and Samuel; Rachel and Aunt Beth; Kyle; Grammie; Grampie & Erika; Emily & Jeffrey; Apple (held by Grampie & Erika); Joshua; Timothy; Uncle Stephen & Aunt Jeannie; Timothy & Kyle; David; the fruit of our labor!

Simple joys like picking apples together are so important -- those are the times that we make memories. We are so blessed to have a wonderful family to enjoy these times together. Sometimes after apple picking, we stop off for lunch. Here are a couple of examples of those times:

Here in the first picture, Amber, Erika, and Marcia are enjoying lunch at Governor's on Broadway in Bangor. (In case you wonder about the decor, I "painted" some other clients out of the picture.) 











David enjoyed the computer games along with his Happy Meal while Samuel worked at discovering his toy at McDonald's in Bangor.