Gone a picking

Last week/end a whole lot of things went wrong. On Thursday, David took the day off to get some work done around the house without Noah and I here to get in his way. That morning Noah woke up with a chesty, wet cough. I made it only halfway to the sitter's house before turning around to come home.

Then by Thursday night, both Noah and I were sick.

By Friday morning, I felt pretty miserable, but I had the day off work to clean for a get together we were slated to have that weekend.

By Friday night, we canceled the party, two McCallens coughing and sneezing their way around a relatively pristine household (and no one there to appreciate it!).

Saturday, instead of gathering with friends, I hung out inside with Noah and my box of tissues while David hunted.

And by Sunday, I was MORE than ready to get a breath of fresh air for the first time in days, so when David said he needed to run to Buckeye Outdoors, I jumped at the chance for some alone time out of the house.

I went to Wal-Mart to pick up some more Ny-Quil and the $45 worth of other things I hadn't planned to buy, and discovered when I returned to my locked car that my keys were sitting in the console. Thanks to AAA, I was rescued and on my way in an hour.

Sickness and sick-of-myself ishness (for forgetting my keys) aside, Sunday was BEAUTIFUL with a capital "B." Bright blue skies, brilliant sunshine, leaves were in peak color, wow! So, David and I decided we shouldn't miss the opportunity to go to the pumpkin patch to get our annual Halloween allotment.

We went to Branstool's orchard in Utica—our first time—and had a ball! We took a wagon to get our pumpkins because the field was a bit of a haul from the cashier's building.


David took off across the pumpkin patch right away. And all of the sudden, he was showing off a robust, round gourd... at least that's what it looked like from this vantage point.


Noah was obsessed with the cutters they gave us to snip through the vines. He loudly protested when he wasn't allowed to carry them and was only able to cut under supervision. To him, those giant scissors were the best part of the pumpkin patch experience.



I asked Noah to stop his protests for just a minute so I could capture a memory or two.


Pumpkin picking success!


Look at our full wagon! Looks like Noah's got the right idea... ridin' in style.

On the way to pay for our pumpkins, we had to pass by the apple orchard trees. I couldn't resist picking just a few. They were delicious! My favorite? Suncrisp. YUM. And hope they didn't mind Noah helping himself to a sample on the way back.