Cider Press

This year we had our first fruit harvest from the trees in the backyard. We have two apple trees, a plum tree, ans a small pear tree. One apple tree had large fruit that fell off the tree in July during the heat wave. Hopefully nexy year we will have better luck. The other tree has much smaller apples and were ready mid- Sept. Our friend John has a beautiful apple press. And another friend had a pear tree loaded and ready to press. Mid-week we had everyone over to press the fruit. It was loads of fun.


Amanda and Zoe had made the most beautiful marshmellow pillow. Home-made marshmallow is deliious. What could be better than adding melted chocolate. That is right we made s'mores. Lisa was the excited to tend the masterpiece on the grill. Yumm

Amelia tells secrets to her bee...

...maybe someday we will know what she said!

Aunt Michelle's visit

Aunt Michelle, Melissa's sister, came to visit her new little niece in the last weekend of September. We had a lovely visit.
Amelia loved spending time with her aunt. We went to the Sustainable Ballard Festival (presenting ways to save, reduce, recycle, use alternate energy sources, remodel with energy efficient designs, etc.) and Sunday Farmer's Market to pick up some fresh PNW Salmon. Yumm.


You can even see Michelle's baby bump here. She is due in January! Amelia will have a cousin her same age on both sides of the family!

Camping!

On the last day of summer, we packed the car with lots of pillows, blankets, and food, and headed West towards the Pacific Coast for our first camping trip with Amelia!

It all started with a beautiful ferry ride.

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We went to Mora Campground, on the coast and in the Olympic National Park, close to a little town called La Push.

Amelia loved it! She really likes the big trees.


Snuggling all night with mom was also very fun.


The first morning was a little chilly, but after a nice breakfast we went on a short hike to"Second Beach", and our lunch there awesome.

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We went to look at the Olympic Mountains on the way back (Hurricane Ridge), to scout our future adventures. Hmmm, will we be ready for backpacking next summer?