The weather hasn’t been spectacular fall weather yet this year, to be honest. But Mother Nature has had it with us, so it’s not that surprising. We’re still trying to do All Of The Fall Things, though, which means basking in apple season. Even when we set out in the morning dressed for fall, and need shorts and tank tops by lunchtime.

What a fabulous (and noisy) program. We all went to the inaugural show yesterday in Red Bank. The NJ Symphony Orchestra did a matinee performance for kids before their grownup show last night. This is the first event at Count Basie, but I think I’ve seen this elsewhere around the state. Maybe NJPAC?

We’ve been busy running around and getting into our usual fall pick-your-own adventures. Two trips for apple picking and one trip to Dearborn Market for pumpkins. We haven’t made it out to Atlantic Farms yet this year to pick one out of a real field, but we may still make the drive for turkey and gourds. And to feed the animals.

We’ve picked so. many. peaches this summer, you guys. H and I went once in early August, and the peaches were gorgeous but not ripe yet. I attempted to make a disastrous batch of roasted peach butter with them and then gave up on the lot. We went again the week before last, and the peaches were ripe and totally glorious. We’ve been doing things. And we still have more peaches to deal with. Our freezer will be overflowing with this summer’s goodness well into the winter (happy dance that we bought a stand-alone freezer for the garage this year!).

This girl had such a great season. Last summer H wasn’t even walking on her own yet. This was her first real kid summer, and I’m sad to see it go. I mean, it’s still 84 degrees outside, but you know how summer feels “over” once Labor Day comes and goes. From Lancaster with my mom to the county fair to fruit picking to visiting grandparents, we did a ton of stuff in those two-and-a-half months. I didn’t realize how much until I looked back this morning. Here are some more summer photos.

Still catching up on some summer posts, and I’ve still got some of these sour cherries in our freezer. H positively loved cherry picking. As much as she complained about the strawberries, I couldn’t drag her away from the sour cherries. That precious short season, it’s like magic. We packed our bucket with fruit.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures, but we did make it to the county fair last month. So many animals to make a toddler happy! Read more on 2014 Monmouth County Fair…

I haven’t posted here much this summer because it’s been so busy. But everyone’s busy, everyone always says how busy they are. What does that even mean to me?
We’ve had several different kinds of busy around here. Prepping for new job busy, summer adventures with a toddler busy, organizing the house busy, sewing and writing busy, making jam busy, feeding and speech therapy busy. Sometimes all of these busies feel so consuming that I forget I do occasionally spend time with other adults and don’t just sit in front of my computer or run a two-year-old all over the county.
It’s been fun around here for adults lately. Sometimes with H in tow, and sometimes even without her! Read more on Grownups of Summer…