Happy Back to Work Day!

Summer is now technically over for most people. Summer vacation has ended, the kids are back in school, and many parents are breathing sighs of relief. Munchkin starts preschool tomorrow and while a part of me is looking forward to the child-free half-days another part wants to sob "How did she grow up so fast!?". My teacher friends are already planning evil ways to torment their students, and we are taking bets amongst the parents with older children on how fast school will become hideous torture.

Officially summer ends on September 22nd at 1:43pm PDT. Even though the nights have been cool enough lately for some of the trees to start changing colors the garden is still perking along, the warm days are keeping everything happy and growing. The zucchini have started to slow down though, and I've been busy shredding and freezing it for winter.

After years of trying I have finally raised a pumpkin. Ain't it purty? I hadn't planned on putting in pumpkins this year but I had so many volunteers pop up where I had piled last year's Halloween leftovers that I decided to allow a couple to stay. Of course, one pumpkin won't be enough for my fall decorating obsession, but I'm rather proud to say I finally got one to grow.

Over the weekend we cleaned the pool and put it away. It seems early but the last week of cloudy weather and occasional rain showers helped us along. Better to put it away too early (and get it completely dry) than to try and dry it out once the fall monsoons have started. Without the pool hogging so much yard space it suddenly feels as if we have an acre or two out back.

To celebrate the 'first-ish' day of fall we went out to the U-Pick farm and  stocked up on early apples and late summer fruits.

We always have so much fun at the farm. Their corn and pumpkin patches are growing wonderfully and I can't wait for the Harvest weekend activities to start. They'll have a corn maze, wagon rides, pumpkin throwing, apple bobbing, and loads of other activities starting later in the month.

U-Pick farms are awesome for autumn/Halloween activities. In my area there are several fairly large farms that host fright nights, gigantic corn mazes, and other spooky holiday fun. Check out Pick Your Own to find a local farm near you.

It was fairly warm out today and I opted not to pick my own. As much as I wanted to wander the orchards I knew I wouldn't make it past the second row of trees.  At this stage of the pregnancy I can't handle the heat at all-which isn't surprising considering I'm roughly the size of a small sea mammal.

Instead we picked a selection from the already picked boxes: Asian pears, Bartlett pears, Early Red apples, MacIntosh apples, Gravensteins, some plums, and a bottle of apple cider. My counter is piled high with all the goodies-not to mention the stack of tomatoes picked from the garden. I love this time of year!