Earlier in October, we made our annual pilgrimage to Sky Top Apple Orchard in Flat Rock, NC. Sky Top sits atop beautiful Mt.
McAlpine and the views are gorgeous.
They always have a multitude of pumpkins lazying around the front of the store which makes for great picture taking!
Eden wasn't cooperating very well with me. She was more interested in crawling from one pumpkin to another so actually getting a photo with her looking towards the camera was a triumph.
Emma decked out with her puppy purse and Hello Kitty necklace...
Ryan...
And Avery...
We went ahead and purchased our tickets for the hayride and let the kids play on the playground while we waiting for the ride to begin.
The hayride takes you around their apple orchards and by some of their farm animals. It is a really pretty ride just looking out over the mountains.
The
hay bale spider...
Eden and I at the end of the ride.
They have about every variety of apples you can possibly ask for and of course you can either purchase
prepackaged or pick your own.
Michael and Eden in the apple orchard.
Every year, Ryan attempts to climb a tree to get an apple and it seems every year he has a mishap with a tree. Usually the tree wins. At least this year he didn't land
face down under a tree!
I don't know what is up with the hood. The girl has her own sense of fashion!
Ryan insisted that they all stand by the Sky Top sign together and have their picture taken!
Besides apple cider
slushies and apple cider pumpkin
sippies, we all enjoyed a hot apple donut before we left - yum!
After we left Flat Rock, we took the short jaunt over to
Hendersonville to visit their downtown area once again.
I love the vibe of this area! There are people relaxing outside at local eateries, walking their dogs and that evening we got to see a parade of men dressed in high heels to raise money for "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" - a group that raises money to fight domestic violence. How cool is that? I told Michael that I could see myself retiring someplace like this someday.
The kids joined the parade to donate a dollar for the cause and got a balloon in return!
We browsed a few stores and then found an outside table at Mike's on Main Street which is an old soda shop that serves sandwiches and such. I enjoyed a grilled pimento cheese sandwich with a vanilla coke!
A great fall day trip with the family!
On Saturday, October 30th we went to Wingard's Nursery for their "Hallopalooza." As I had mentioned in an earlier post, Emma's Girl Scout troop made one of the scarecrows for their contest.
Emma posing with her troop's scarecrow...
They also had apple bobbing which each of the kids attempted.
And a train ride...
The train traveled around the nursery grounds and you know how much kids love train rides, so this was a big hit.
All of these activities were free and to top it off, get this...they even provided free lunch! Hot dogs, chips, soda and candy - maybe not the healthiest of meals but did I mention free? 
