This is the second year that we've visited Gallrein Farms in Shelbyville and we loved it! My sister in law Jana and I had photographed a wedding the day prior and it was in the eighties and SO warm. It was crazy to see the temps drop so quickly Sunday while we were at the farm, and luckily for us, the rain held off until the very end. Our friends Tim and Clayton joined, and other than missing Uncle Noah [poor guy was sick at home!], we had the same crew as last year!

Gallrein has an awesome petting zoo and we all loved seeing the different animals. You know me, my favorite animal(s) there were the horses. I'm always so jealous of these farms and wish I could just kidnap a horse or two. Or just have the owner give one to me--haha!

The kids had their faces painted, jumped in bounce houses, ate some snacks, rode the train, and last but not least, we of course went out to the pumpkin patch!

Baby Kennedy was SUCH a trooper by the way. She's a month old now [how did this happen??] and she never fussed one bit about the wind and at one time, spitting rain droplets. In case you missed it, Tim and Clayton are in the process of adopting her and have been her guardians since the day she was born--they even stayed her last night in the hospital with her! They are two amazing dads and we are very blessed to call them friends. [Friends? Or family? Ha!]

It started to REALLY rain as we were leaving, and Jana took her girls and Asa went with Reese to the corn maze. I took Pierson and his cousin Keats and we camped out in the car until they were finished, haha. We blared some music and had a hilarious car dance. We of course indulged in a LOT of fresh donuts before the trip ended, I swear I could have eaten a dozen by myself.

If you haven't checked out Gallrein Farms, you're definitely missing out. Just a short thirty minute drive from Louisville, it's a quick and easy trip. Not to mention gorgeous--I passed SO many beautiful farms. I'm still just praying that one of them someday finds my blog and just offers me to take over the property. I mean, why not dream right?

Happy Fall, Y'all! This is my favorite season of all and I am SO excited that we've had these great festitivites to remember!

One of our FAVORITE parts about fall is most definitely the festivities, and this year's apple picking outing was well worth a dedicated blog post. All you locals have heard of Huber's Farm, and while it's a beautiful farm with TONS to do, we try to avoid it this time of year because it's just SO swamped [and honestly for us, a little overdone.] We had never been to Boyd's Orchard in Versailles so when our friends Tim and Stephanie told us about it, we thought something new would be fun.

Versailles is about an hour drive for us, and traveling there we have to go directly through horse country. The kids excitedly pointed out EVERY horse and fancy barn they saw out their windows, and as usual when I head that way, my head just spun with dreams of someday owning my own farm. Anyway, back to more Orchard talk, I know that's what you're curious about!

Everything is really beautifully set up as soon as you arrive, and the kids obviously loved the giant chair. The store was packed with jams, and honey, and um, hello, FRESHLY BAKED CIDER DONUTS!!! I'm not going to lie, I was craving pumpkin donuts as well, but they weren't baking any the day that we went [I'm not sure if they do anyway?] One of my FAVORITE things about fall in Michigan [where I grew up] was the family market I grew up going to; they had the best cider and most delicious cake donuts in all varieties. We got a box of six cider donuts and they did not disappoint.

We took a tractor out to the apple trees and with our bags, walked down endless rows of beautiful apples. We had to remind the kids that this was not an Easter egg hunt and that they could not pick EVERY single apple...but they almost had as much fun as Easter because finding the BEST apples became a very thrilling game.

Who am I kidding? I basically wanted to go to the orchard with Reese's outfit in mind the ENTIRE time, and bless her heart, she endured a 70-degree morning in the sun to look cute picking apples in those overalls [sorry, I'm laughing over here.] But really, she and Pierson had a blast. We paid for the wrist bands and they went down a giant slide, jumped on inflatable trampolines, [I jumped and did my first front flip in YEARS, ssshhh], and we went through the corn maze. The corn maze was Asa's idea, and at that point, the kids were melting down with exhaustion and in need of lunch so we were RUNNING through that thing and I absolutely regretted starting it--however, by the end, everyone was laughing, and we were even MORE ready for a good lunch and some cold cider ;)

Tim and Steph are complete troopers by the way, for doing live with us. Our kids are 4 and 5-years old, and nothing short of magical, easy to hang out with, and totally NOT demanding children. Oh wait, is that YOUR KIDS?!?! Because it ain't mine!!!!!! I'm half kidding- I LOVE our kids, duh. But doing things and outings like this takes work for everyone involved, and I'm just really grateful that these two want to be a part of the crazy.

Anyway, here are some more fun photos from our trip, really and truly, we had a great day!

If you live in Kentucky [or may be here visiting friends/family] I definitely recommend going to Eckert's Boyds Orchard. From Louisville to Versailles is a GORGEOUS drive, and a day spent out in the country is ALWAYS a day well spent. Period.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or email me! Where has been YOUR favorite orchard/pumpkin patch to go to??