michigan tradition

Last night, we visited the apple orchard. If you live in Michigan, you know: fall is the time to visit the apple orchard and cider mill, to eat doughnuts and drink--cider, of course! Besides, I couldn't pass up the photo opp for my gorgeous baby girl (although if I'd have planned it before I took her to daycare, I'd have put her in a cuter outfit!).

It was cold (in the forties) and a bit of a whirlwind of outdoor activity since Daddy didn't think he needed a jacket (he was wrong), but Bridget had a lot of fun. I didn't go to the lengths of actually sitting her down in the pumpkin patch for a picture (I was tempted, and would have if I had her Halloween costume finished and on her), but we got some great pics with pumpkins and hay (no apples, though...hmm, I'll have to rethink that next year!). The baby goats came right up to her (they probably expected food, since they left shortly after realizing they weren't getting any), the mama goat brayed and brayed like a mad little donkey, the pigs stank (who knew? pigpens really do smell horrible!), and the hens ran away. We didn't even bother with the geese (they're all over Michigan, although the variety they had at the orchard looked like they had fur along with feathers, they were so fluffy). And then came--da da da da (humming in my head), the doughnuts.

Mommy (okay, I admit, it was me) got cinnamon sugar, Daddy (a.k.a. Al) got plain, and I got cider to go along with mine. Bridget got to sit on the table, pull napkins out of the dispenser (she just reached around and pulled them out first thing), bang on the half-gallon of cider, and eat little bites of mommy's doughnuts (yes, I had more than one), all while getting her picture snapped a gazillion times (okay, more like 140 times during the short period we were there, between Al and I--digital cameras have turned us insane. About half turned out okay). And then she conked out on the way home, acted insanely silly for an hour after we got home, drank ten ounces of milk, and stayed up til 10:00 p.m. A bit too much sugar, perhaps? But she had fun, so did we, and we got some good pics. Enjoy those here, along with some other pics taken this month.

And please forgive my insanely unnecessary use of excessive parentheses...