Fall Foliage & Farms!

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In keeping with the Halloween spirit, Mommy & Daddy took me to multiple pumpkin patches.

Each farm has a different feel — Stribling Farm has the best Fuji apples (along with about 13 types of other apples), wildflower honey and apple raisin bread.  They also carry Rinker apple cider which is by far the best tasting cider there is.  Daddy drools when he thinks about this cider ever since he bought it roadside en route to the Shenandoah Valley year.  Hartland Farm has a man-made pumpkin patch and nice landscaped views.  We went to both of these farms with Aunt Jo and Uncle Ken’s twin boys, Justin & Nicholas.

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By far, the best farm is Hollin Farm — they have the best pumpkin patch because the pumpkins were still on the vine and it boasts beautiful views of rolling hills.  Hollin Farm also has a vegetable garden complete with bitter melon and Japanese eggplant.  You can pick as much as you can fit in a “peck” bag and it costs $10 for the bag.  They also have a “greens” field where you can pick bok choy, mustard and lettuce — all for $1.50 a pound.  Wildflowers are also free for the picking.

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We got there too late for this, but if you’re up for it, they also have peanuts you can dig from the ground.  Mommy & Daddy seemed really ignorant when they realized for the first time that peanuts grow underground and not on a tree!  There is also a small petting area where kids could actually be in the same pen as a lamb family or chicken and ducks.

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For the bigger kids, there is even a free corn maze.  So, it’s not surprising that we went to Hollin Farm two weekends in a row.

The first time, we went to Aunt Eva and Uncle Michael and their two girls, Zoe and Evie.

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The second time, we went with Aunt Holly, Uncle Dedo, Aunt Fanny (Aunt Holly’s sister) and her two sons, Joey and Chandler.

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Even Aunt Holly and Uncle Dedo got a little romantic in the flower field…

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Hollin Farm has strawberries and peaches, so we’ll definitely be there next summer!

Snow in October at Udvar-Hazy

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Coco invited me to join her at the Air & Scare Halloween event at Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum.  She came dressed as a bumblebee and I went in my monkey suit (which has definitely gotten its money’s worth this year).

Mommy had no idea there was such an event and was happy to have me join in the festivities.  For $15 per car, there are free 3D simulator rides, free candy and free photo ops with science fiction movie characters.  Being as frugal as Mommy & Aunt Gi are, six of us packed into one car to save an extra few bucks.  Normally, one would shell out $7-8 to ride the 3D simulator, but since it was all free, we waited in line for 1 hour to participate in this highly-anticipated ride.  Unfortunately, it was not worth the wait even if it was free.

Mommy and Daddy are not into Star Wars.  Neither am I.  I had no idea who Darth Vader was, but I knew that he was not a good guy. As soon as it was our turn to take the photo, Mommy nudged me to go forward.  I took one look at him and told Mommy I was afraid.  So, Mommy picked me up and we took a photo with the villian.  Needless to say, I was still scared.  Darth Vader is certainly no Mickey Mouse!

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The crowd was unbelievable!  By the time we left, people were waiting in line for about 1 hour just to get into the parking lot.  Next year, we’ll probably have to bypass Air & Scare for something less crowded.

When we left, there was a beautiful snow storm outside.  Yes, in October and before Halloween!  Having lived in the DC area for over 30 years, Mommy doesn’t recall it ever snowing this early.  Hopefully, this is not a sign of a snowy winter.