It’s the end of October and we’re right in the middle of beautiful autumn. The leaves have changed colors and everywhere you look you can see vibrant yellow, orange and red. They are also falling down in your yard, which makes fun leaf piles for your kids to excitedly jump in as you try and rake them up. Driving seems more peaceful now, especially when driving on the Taconic State Parkway. Highly recommend. You breathe in the fall air and take in your surroundings.
As your driving, your phone alerts you to the group chat between your friends. It reads, “Where is everyone going for apple picking this year?!” Ah, the mandatory fall farm visit! God forbid you don’t visit your local farm and pick a bag of apples for $30! Your husband reminds you that you could go to the supermarket and get your apples. You tell him, “This is for the kids!” And don’t forget to pick your own pumpkin for 10 bucks! Three kids times $10 a pumpkin and simple math will tell you that you are adding on very quickly and just expect to drop $100 in a matter of one hour. Oh, and remember, it didn’t happen unless your kids sat in the pumpkin patch and you took a million photos of them strategically placed in between the biggest pumpkins. Bonus points if your kid is dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans rolled at the ankle. Overalls will get you some serious cuteness points. You will name your photo, “cutest pumpkin in the patch”. Your kids will run all over the apple orchard and you will lift them up to pick an apple for the adorable photo opportunity! Your Facebook post will omit your child eating all of the rotten apples off of the ground while you shriek, “Don’t eat those apples! They are yucky!“
Next is the hay ride. Did you even enjoy your trip if you didn’t take a bumpy hay ride? You hold on to your youngest for dear life. Then your kids will want a caramel apple and maybe even an apple cider donut. You, my friend, want a beer. Expert tip: choose the farms with beer on tap. After that beer if you’re brave enough, you’ll muster up the strength to chase your toddler through the corn maze. You try to get lost to have a minute to rest, but your kids inevitably find you. Once you’ve completed the maze, your kids will naturally want to go jumping in the bouncy house. You use this time to stop and smile, watching while your kids are happily bouncing and you tell yourself that #FarmLifeIsTheGoodLife. Well, at least that’s what you obviously hashtag your mandatory social media post.
Now, all jokes aside, I know it looks like I’m hating on fall activities. Truth be told, I absolutely love the farm visits and all of these things that I am joking about are the things that I am 100% happily guilty of doing. Some of my best memories are at the farm with my family. I have countless numbers of pumpkin patch photos and memories of bumpy hayrides, minus the years I was pregnant of course. We have already visited a local farm once this year and had a blast! My kids are even asking to go again and I promised them that I would find the time to take them before it gets super cold out and we are hunkering down. By then, I’ll have a list of winter activities that will include sleigh riding on the best hills, cutting down the best Christmas tree, and of course finding some inside activities that will hopefully prevent me from going stir crazy.
It’s all about balance and I love that we can have these great family farm trips a few times a year so when fall comes around, the kids are excited and it always seems new and exciting to them. I usually try and take “fall photos” for my Christmas card but this year I decided to let myself off the hook. No matching outfits, no kids throwing leaves in the air for the perfect shot…no stress. Just me and the family playing in the backyard with the dog busting through a huge leaf pile that took me an hour to rake. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll catch one action shot of the kids sweetly playing in the perfectly rounded pile and I’ll get to use it for my Christmas card. And of course I’ll post it on Instagram with #fallfamilyfun 😉
Local places we love:
Stuart’s Farm
Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard