Super Saturday (until Greta totally lost it)

In trying to decide what to do this weekend, we decided we'd maybe hit up the waffle breakfast at Northland for the Fall Festival, maybe we'd go apple picking, maybe we'd do lots of things.  One thing for sure was we were going to a friend's house for dinner on Saturday night.

Friday night we decided that we were going to skip the waffle breakfast, it was probably going to be busy and we weren't looking forward to dealing with crowds.  Plus, Greta is at the stage where she can't sit still and doesn't do well out to dinner.

Saturday morning we were trying to decide what to do and decided on the apple orchard and then the park in Bayfield.  Nick took Greta in to work while I read to Lilly and then got us packed and ready to go.  We drove up, a delightful drive for once, and found the apple orchard we wanted to visit closed.  Rather than calling it quits, we went to Erickson's Orchard, where we went strawberry picking earlier this summer.

Unfortunately we unloaded everyone to learn we were going to have to drive out to the one tree we were going to pick from.  So we piled back into the car and an unhappy Greta was made happy by having an open window.  We arrived at our assigned tree, got our bag, and started picking.

Both girls did a great job picking and very quickly we filled up our bag.  It didn't matter how many apples we put in the bag, it was going to be $14, so we packed that puppy to the brim.

After filling our bag, the girls and I walked back to the orchard entry and Nick drove, paid for the apples and bought some apple cider. While he did that, the girls explored the giant adirondack chair.

Then we spent some time hanging out by the hay bale animals and checking out the pond, before we headed out to lunch.

We headed to Maggie's, the pink flamingo restaurant in Bayfield.  Remember earlier when I mentioned we weren't going to go to the waffle breakfast because Greta can't sit still?  Well, lunch wasn't super successful for Greta.  She did enjoy the apple she was eating and she loved watching the train they have going around the bar area, but that was about it.  Oh, she also said hi repeatedly to the table behind us, until one of them said hi back, then she suddenly became shy.  So Nick focused on eating his meal and playing hangman with Lilly while I took Greta outside, and then when switched places once Nick finished his lunch.

Eating apples on the way to lunch

Outside the pink flamingo restaurant

After the fun at the park, we loaded back into the car and hoped for the best.  And we got the best!  Another pleasant drive, listening to Henry Huggins and eating apples.  When we arrived home, Greta was still in decent spirits, despite it being past nap time.  We got her ready for her nap and she dozed while Lilly and I watched some Tangled, then made apple crisp to bring to the dinner party.

Our haul - now what to do with all of them?

The apples were squirting her in the eye when we were cutting them, so she picked up her goggles to keep the apple juice out of her eyes.  It was fun baking with Lilly (who always wears her apron, which she used to call her cookie bib) and it was nice of Greta to sleep the entire time it took to prepare the crisp for the oven.

The evening was spent eating delicious homemade macaroni and cheese, bread, salad at our friends' house.  Lilly had fun playing on their couch and with the toys of their one-year old son, who also goes to the girls' daycare.  Then a bit after dinner, Greta totally lost it.  She became completely inconsolable and finally we asked for some baby ibuprofen for her.  Being outside and swinging didn't even seem to help her feel happier. The ibuprofen eventually seemed to help a bit, but she was still pretty crabby the rest of the night, until we got in the car to go back home.  Then she was pleased as punch, singing and offering me high fives.