It's apple season!

This past Friday,
my sister Tricia and I took our kids down to Salem
to visit the Sabin Orchards;
they're orchards our great great grandfather (David Sabin)
planted and cared for years and years ago
that are still being cared for presently by my mom's 2ND cousin's family.

The farm specializes in growing apples, peaches, plums and white grapes.
They also make apple cider.
Visitors are welcome to visit the orchards and buy the produce.

(sorry Mom & Dad,
I tried my best to get a good group shot of the kids together in the orchards,
but as you can see,
the little ones didn't want to cooperate much;
they were more interested in finding bugs & dead tree branches
or picking up rotten fruit off the ground;
this was the best shot I could get of the bunch).

My boys spent a better part of the time while we were out in the orchards

looking for sticks they could use as swords.
Every time they turned their heads,
they spotted on the ground a bigger and better tree branch they wanted to play swords with. Counting apples...

We got a great deal on apples at the farm!
I won't be buying apples from the supermarket any longer;
this is the place to get them!
They had apples of all sorts to choose from.
We mixed it up and bought a few to make Apple Betty with,
a few to candy and make into caramel apples,
and others just to snack on.

Cohen helped himself to an apple......or two while we were there;
he picked them right out of the apple crates!Ian munched on an apple and a plum!

We had fun taking our kids out to the orchards
that once belonged to our great great granddaddy
and apple picking seems like such an appropriate activity for an autumn day!Just down the street from the orchards is the Salem pond.

We visited there after to feed the ducks and geese.
It's a beautiful quiet little pond.
Having never fed ducks before,
Cohen didn't understand at first that the bread I gave him
was supposed to be for the ducks and NOT him...

but in time,
he figured it out
and shared some bread with the ducks.Friday was a gorgeous day for a fall outing with the kids!