i love apples.

they are probably my favorite fruit. really. so versatile, so delicious, so easy.

we went apple picking this past sunday, it was our first time and we don't even know if we went to a good orchard or not but it didn't matter - the weather was fantastic and we had a wonderful time!

their season had been extended this year due to high yield.  being so late into the season, we weren't sure if we would get a lot of good ones, but  it was 16 acres of gorgeous trees, filled with fresh apples still!

it was a blast, fresh picked apples are so amazing.  we tasted every type, quickly discovered which we liked and which we didn't, and had so much fun in the gorgeous weather, just eating and stuff apples in a bag.

nick had brought a little swiss army knife with him, which came in handy because some of the apples were so tough to get through their skin.

i, of course, am a giant fat kid and didn't need a stupid knife to get to my apples.  i think i ate double what nick ate just in the orchard alone.  especially when i found the fuji apple tree...

then there were these goats... 

this one had a beard.  or we thought it was a beard. turned out, it was just a lot of burrs stuck under his chin.  he didn't seem to care though.

here's what we came home with.  10 lbs of fresh picked apples, and a cat who was not impressed.  he likes doritos, fries, cake frosting and spam - but not apples.

and check this out!  nick saw this and just had to bring it home.  it's a blue hubbard squash, weighs about the same as a large turkey and looks like one too!  lady at the orchard said it was completely edible and gave us a recipe.  we can't wait to try it out!  it's so huge, she told us we would have to smash it on the concrete to break it into manageable pieces!

so for now until winter, it sits on my front steps along with the 3 little green pumpkins we accidently grew in our old apartment garden!