Apple Pie, Apple Dumplings, Apple Crisp...

I can't wait to start baking. If you have any fantastic apple recipes, please share, I can't wait to start putting these apples to good use. Saturday Morning we headed West to Charlottesville to pick some apples at Carter Mountain Orchard.  (highly recommend it if you live in the area, but get there EARLY, the crowds are insane). The Fahy family met us there (Neighbors), and we met Dana, Rich, Hailey and Evan there (Dana and I were close friends at JMU).  It was great to see them, even if it was a super quick visit - we'll have to do it more often!

I've never really picked apples before, or if I have, I don't remember if. I do remember visiting orchards often as a kiddo, but I don't recall going into the fields and picking the apples myself, but I am betting at some point I did.  Some people came prepared with these super long pole thingys that had nets at the top to reach the top of the trees, we just used our little humans to reach the higher apples - HA!.

We ended up picking a few different varieties, and ended up with 27lbs of apples - what in the world am I going to do with 27lbs of apples? I am on the hunt for some great apple recipes to start using these pups.  I think I pinned a good one that involves crescent dough, that sounds manageable, and I am planning to hit the store tomorrow to pick up some items to knock out a few recipes over the next few weeks.

I love Charlottesville, I could easily live there, talk about a great place to raise a family! But holy smokes its pricey, the home prices are a bit insane for a small city. Take a look at the view - not a great shot of the beautiful landscape, but take my word for it, its gorgeous.

Olivia enjoyed sampling the apples while she picked...as did Avery. Overall the girls did well, but the walking around was getting to them, good thing Apple Cider Donuts were there to give them some pep in their step - they were delicious. And the Apple Cider was amazing as well.

Side Note: I had another Keratin Smoothing treatment done on Friday Morning - that is the reason my hair is PIN straight in these photos, I haven't been able to wash it since Friday! You should have seen the shower cap I had to wear while showering today, I looked like a mushroom from Super Mario Brothers.

Second Side Note: We have NOT had good luck with the smaller business Living Social/Groupon deals, I think we are going to stick to the larger businesses, but thankful with our bad luck, Living Social and Groupon have been VERY easy to deal with, they are quick to refund our money and cancel the purchase.