Annual Apple (Pumpkin) Picking Trip

Today, we trekked up to Woodstock, Illinois for the 4th annual Chicago Mama apple-picking trip. Unfortunately, all the apples were down, so it became a pumpkin-picking trip only. The Dad and I knew about the apples before we left in the morning, but The Boy and The Girl did not learn this until we arrived at the apple orchard and learned that the shop was closed. (The Dad and I did not know the shop would be closed; we were hoping to at least buy some apples.)

It was just as well that the picking season was over. It was darn cold today, with a fierce wind. The warmest part of our day was walking through the corn maze at the Red Barn on IL-Route 47; the stalks of dried corn provided nice protection from the wind. The Boy and The Dad went through once while The Girl got her face painted. Then we all went through together, finding letters at various turns to form an anagram. Thanks to my nascent addiction to Facebook's Word Challenge, I didn't have much trouble forming witch hat out of the letters. We had lunch and pie/cake/cookies at the Red Barn also, and picked out pumpkins. The Tot was so cute trying to pull the wagon full of heavy pumpkins through the gravel on a very blustery day.

We pulled into Homestead at about 1 p.m., but the barn was completely locked and even the "Honk for Service" placard was hidden from view. We took the briefest of strolls to see the trees, and sat on the swing bench to take a family photo. Then we headed back home. The Dad obligingly swung through the parking lot of the Huntley outlets, but there wasn't anything remotely appealing on the directory list, so we headed back into the city.