Apple Pickin'

This past Saturday, we took our annual (well two years in a row :-) trip up to Blue Ridge, Georgia to go apple picking at Mercier's Apple Orchard.  I just love that place!  Last year we chose to go there because Brian knows the people there because the make Chick-fil-a's Dwarf House fried pies.  I would never want to go anywhere else!  For my Peachtree City/Fayetteville peeps, there are some places around here that are a little mean and strict when it comes to bringing kids along, but this place encourages eating! (As you can see from the pictures!) Aubrey walked around with two apples most of the day.  We leave whenever the kids are all up and get up to Blue Ridge about 10ish.  It's just under two hours to get there.  When we got there the line to purchase bags for apple picking was a little long, so Brian took the girls to pick out a fried pie to eat while we waited. (Of course, I got one too...I got Strawberries and Cream :-)  Once we got our bags we headed back to the back where you wait for the tractor to come and pick you up to take you out into the orchard.  The girls love the tractor ride! Thank goodness we go the blue tractor both times...we might have had a falling out! Those of you who know Aubrey, know what I'm talking about!!!  Once we got into the orchard, we headed to the Ambrosia apples and the Jonagold apples.  They were so yummy! I could have spent the whole day there!! After we picked two bags there, we headed over to the Mutzu apples.  They are a little more tart and good for baking.  Brian's grandmother wanted some too, so we picked a bag for his grandmother and his parents.  After we finished picking apples, we caught the tractor back to the store and had our picnic lunch.  (And maybe got another something sweet!)  We also bought lots of their homemade things like apple butter, apple juice, fritters, pear preserves, and blueberry preserves.  They have wonderful things there!!  It was a great time and I suggest to anyone who doesn't mind the drive to head up there! They are so wonderful and have so many goodies!!

Getting ready to head out!  

Caroline eating her fried pie.

My crew heading to the tractor.

Brian with the girls.

One of our only family pictures!

Heading down the apples rows.

Eating some apples.

Yummy!

Apples!

Cheese!

Picking apples. 

Running through the orchard.

Andrew loved the apples!!! He drank all the juice!!

This pretty much describes the day :-)

Me and the kiddos!!!

Camping Trip

This past weekend, Brian took Caroline camping for the first time...well, that is, beyond our back yard.  Saturday around lunch, Brian and Caroline loaded up the car and headed to Auburn to go camping at a state park.  She had such a great time! Packing things up, she couldn't decide what she needed to take.  I tried to help, but she still ended up with quite a random assortment.  There was a playground that she played on, they roasted hot dogs and made smores and read lots of books.  She was also very excited about the trail map that they got when they got to the state park.  Brian said she kept calling it her "adventure map."  Unfortunately, the campsites were quite close together and when it was time for them to go to bed the campers next to them was fairly loud and Caroline couldn't go to sleep, so about 10ish, Brian decided just to head back so they could get some sleep.  As you will see in the picture, even when she fell asleep in the car, she wouldn't let go of her "adventure map." Brian was good to take some pictures for me which I have added below.

Sliding down the slide at the playground.

Hiking down one of the trails.

Hiking beside the creek.

Eating smores!

Setting up the tent.

On the way home....still holding the "adventure map."

Braves VIP Field Pass

OMG is the best way to start this post! (Almost) All of my dreams came true last Friday night.  My dad advertises with the Braves, and they know that Brian and I are HUGE Braves fans, so they thought we might like to enjoy a VIP Field Pass....I said, "ummmm, yes!" (Probably with a few oh my's in there too) We had four tickets so we took our friends, also Braves fans, Sarah and Ty.  (And Virginia tagged along, but slept most of the time :-) Sarah is my Braves buddy.  We always text each other during the game, because we both know that the other is watching the game.  It's quite nice to have a best friend who enjoys the same things that you do. ( I love you Sarah!)

Anyways, back to the game.  We met the rep at the 755 club and she walked us down to the field level.  If you've ever been to batting practice before a Braves game, you've seen the white fence behind the batting cage where people can stand and watch and hopefully, players come over to sign autographs and sometimes take pictures.  I didn't know that you could actually buy those tickets, so needless to say, it was pretty crowded, but our awesome rep took us actually to the side so we had no one in front of us! It was AWESOME!! (you will probably hear that more than once in this post!)  The pictures really tell the story well because I was snapping them every three seconds! Brian, Sarah, and Ty were wonderful because I somewhat went into my "freakout zone" and they took all kinds of pictures of me with them, but my sweet husband didn't want to take pictures with anyone so that I could get mine with them! (I did ask in order to be nice :-)  Many times, I did think I was either going to pee my pants or collapse.  Obviously, the highlight was getting my picture made with Chipper Jones, Martin Prado, and Jair Jurrjens.  Our rep told us that we were very fortunate to get autographs and pictures with Chipper because usually he avoids the crowds and takes the visitors dugout to get back to the locker room.  Martin was so nice! He talked to us and just seemed like an all around great guy!  I also got autographs from David Ross, bat licker Jose Constanza, Jair Jurrjens, Chipper Jones, Martin Prado, and Freddie Freeman.  And by the way, Freddie is HUGE, TV definitely doesn't do him justice!

As somewhat of a side note, the game was fun too! They stunk it up, but we had good seats, good food, and an all around good time!  It was also Star Wars night, so that's always funny to see what all they do.  There are lots of pictures below because I just couldn't leave any out!!

Eric Hinske warming up.

David Ross talking to security.

Ross pondering life...or trying to see if I'm stalking him.

Ross signing autographs.

Hinske and Heyward

Fredi Gonzalez throwing BP

Freddie Freeman

Chipper

Chipper and me!!!

The gang

Martin and me!!!

The Mets (taken for my friend Mary)

Constanza and Conrad

Coming in from the field.

Hanson is a big boy as well.

"Is that JJ?"

"Yes! That is JJ!"

Jurrjens signing autographs

JJ and me!!

Brian and me on the field.

Sarah, Ty, and Virginia

Doesn't she look like a baby doll???