APPLE FESTIVAL

This afternoon Carter and I went with our family to the Apple Festival. It took us about 1.5 hours to get there. There were a lot of people at the Festival, so we parked our automobiles at the courthouse and rode in by tram. Carter liked this because he got to sit on my lap for the drive over which is something he's never done before. Our group got separated into two parts for several minutes, but it wasn't long before we were reunited. One of the first things we did was eat lunch which consisted of the typical greasy spread... homemade potato chips and gigantic sandwiches topped with cheesy fries, onions, steak, fried shrimp and the kitchen sink. It sounds gross, but the sandwiches were actually pretty good. A cold jug of lemonade helped us pack it all down. A sweet older man (aka "Grandpa") gave us a funnel cake and we devoured it. I packed Carter a peanut butter sandwich with a handful of Cheerios and he was very content to eat that. There was a petting zoo on location which had the sweetest goats, sheep, baby rabbits, duck, pig and baby cow. I was excited to bring Carter in the pen to touch them, but he howled when the animals brushed up against his arms, hands and chubby cheeks with their long tongues to get a good lick of his peanut butter remnant. Yummm....they thought he tasted so good! The animals were so gentle, but Carter didn't care - he wanted me to GET HIM OUT OF THERE!!! It was a beautiful autumn day to be outside - very sunny with beautiful blue skies and a pleasant breeze. The only time I felt hot was when I stopped to think about it. A lot of craft booths had been set up to buy homemade goods so there was a lot to see and do. Matthew paid $5.00 for each of my nieces and nephews to go on horse rides. I would have paid to let Carter ride a little pony, but since he cried so hard at the petting zoo, I figured I'd better save my money. Mom, Rachel and I got angry because the "horse" people told us we couldn't take pictures of our kids. They wanted us to pay an additional $3.00 for one photo taken on their cheap cameras of each kid. What a scam! We took our own pictures anyway by trying to hide behind the trees. Now that I think about it, this was not a very good lesson to teach the kids. Oh well! At least we got some pictures. My favorite pictures are the ones taken of the kids climbing in the trees while we were hiding out. After we left the Apple Festival, we stopped for supper at a little pizzeria which had the best food - including the best homemade bread warm from the oven. It was sooo good. Carter and I ate manicotti and a salad. After supper the two of us conked out in Mom's car for the 1.5 hour drive back home.