Apple Picking!

On Saturday, we went to a local apple orchard to pick some apples. And yes, I did dress them up in matching shirts for this!
I wish Rowan weren't squinting into the sun, I love this picture anyway though.

Now that Rowan is full-fledged walking around and getting into everything, it made for some cute pics.

Rowan tastes the 'fruits' of her labor--nyut nyut nyut.

She had a lot more fun than I thought she would. She lasted a long time.

And she tried really hard to get apples off the tree all by herself.

"Here do you want this one Mommy?"

Obviously I had to make them pose together...

Kaylee is still a super big sister, always loving and almost always gentle. We're very lucky.

Here the girls are sampling their wares.

We really made Kaylee work for her keep this time.

I wish Kaylee was as zealous about eating apples at home...but apparently they have that extra something special when you get to pick them right off the tree in the moment. (It must be at that moment too, because all the apples we brought home have lost their luster to her even though she picked a lot of them herself.)

"Did you want a bite?"

"This seems like an awful lot of work...wouldn't it be easier to just go to the grocery store?"

We like this funny face.

Daddy lifted her up so she could get a few apples off the high branches.

Look at the raw exertion required to heave this heavy load of apples!

But after she moved that mostly empty bag a few inches, she declared victory a la Kevin Spacey in American Beauty: "I rule!"

We give Kaylee a good amount of freedom these days and she doesn't disappoint us, wandering only a little distance away to see if she could find some better apples but coming back as soon as we called.

Then, on to the Pumpkin Patch!

Kaylee found her 'great pumpkin.'

Daddy thinks the girls look like they're floating in the patch in this picture...of course Mommy's hovering shadow probably ruins it, but I couldn't get to far away for fear Rowan would fall of her perch.

The cover for this month's: Pumpkin Magazine!

Or maybe this is the cover.

A kiss for Ro in the pumpkin patch.

Posing in the Pumpkin Patch.

Another pose.

I still have a big birthday party post to post: we went to 4 birthday parties since getting home from Disney...but it will all depend on how long it takes, I don't want to fall too far behind, so I might skip some birthday parties to keep up to date in October.

Disney-Day 6: Our last day in the parks!

We hit the ground running on our last day in the parks. I had read that regardless of the time of year the Magic Kingdom is always more crowded on the weekends and that was definitely true, but not first thing in the morning. We arrived as the park opened, even got to see a little show before the rope dropped and we headed right to Adventure Land.

Here we got to ride the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. This is basically the same as Dumbo with slight more control as you can tilt as well as go up and down.

It was so uncrowded at this hour (especially in Adventure Land as everyone usually heads straight for Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land) that we got to ride several times without getting off.

It was difficult to get good photos as Mommy could not sit in the back of her carpet for pictures and steer, but we still caught some cute ones.

We think this might have been Rowan's favorite smile: check out that grin!

We caught The Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade 1 more time!

This short little parade really is a lot of fun, Mommy was a big fan.

And Daddy will forever love the Mad Hatter for what he said to Kaylee the first time we saw the parade (see Disney Day 1 post for explanation.)

Then it was time to accept our Breakfast Invitation to Cinderella's Royal Table. (Where ironically Cinderella does not dine but rather greets guests in the foyer before they go upstairs to eat.)

But Belle did come by (and for some reason Belle is wearing her peasant clothes and not her infamous gold gown, we couldn't figure that out.)

Autograph time!
Snow White came by as well to sign a book...
and pose for a picture.
As you can see Rowan had no issues with characters that look like people!
Princess Jasmine came to sign Kaylee's book as well.
And take a photo. Sleeping Beauty/Aurora came by as well but we were having a camera malfunction while she was at our table. Luckily I did catch that encounter on our video camera and we will figure out how to freeze an image from that to add to our album at some point.
And naturally, Kaylee's birthday did not go unnoticed.
Kaylee was blowing candles like a pro by the end of our vacation!
After Cinderella's Royal table and a visit with the princesses we decided we'd brave the line to visit the pixies. In the end, totally worth the wait. It was very cute. The whole family got to pose with Rosetta.
And naturally Kaylee took care of business.
Iridessa was on hand as well for a picture...
and John Hancock. I will admit I had no idea who these guys were, Kaylee doesn't watch the movies yet...but she sure knew who came next!
It was Tink! So much fun!
Kaylee loved her and I thought our particular Tinkerbell couldn't have been better. She had a whole long conversation with Kaylee, no rushing us along. Totally worth it!
And you can't see it here, but Kaylee obviously got her favorite Disney gal's autograph. We have a lot of Tinkerbell stuff in our house: bed-sheets, comforters, chairs, shirts...and now a signature too!
Then as we staked out a place for the big afternoon parade (our very last chance to see it!) we decided that no Disney trip should be complete without a Mickey Ice Cream pop. So we got one for Kaylee.
As you can see, she got right into it.
Messy Messy Messy, at least at some point I remember I had bibs!
This was an excellent way to pass the time waiting for the parade to come to where we were on the route.
And Kaylee thought the ice cream was so good, she wasn't really into the idea of sharing with Ro.
Waiting for the parade.
And it was worth the wait.
The Celebrate a Dream Come True parade.
First up: Mickey & Minnie's float.
Belle and the Beast came by on their own float.
Aladdin anyone?
The fairy Godmother's float stopped right in front of us for a little show, she was singing right to us,
with Cinderella and her prince right behind.
No parade would be complete without Goofy.
The Neverland and Wonderland crew had a float as well.
Kaylee had no idea who Stitch was when we came to Disney, but she did by the end...same goes for Woody and Jessie behind him!
And Pluto rounded out our pictures with Chip & Dale in his wake.
Good bye Disney, we miss you already!

This last pictuer is the airport the next day...we thought Kaylee looked the part of pint-sized jet-setter pulling her own luggage!

And that is that. Now I can get back to the 100s of pictures I've taken since being home: we've gone to 4 birthday parties, apple picking and dance class. Stay tuned, but don't hold your breath!