Cider in the Fall - Ella' First Trip

Ever since David and I have been together I have heard stories about the annual apple cider and apple butter making at the farmhouse home of their family friend Bob Grafton. Because we lived first in Abilene, TX then Gainesville, FL - it was never reasonable to take a weekend trip for this fun event. Now that we are just a couple of hours from West Virginia this was the year for both Ella and I to experience cider in the fall for the first time. SO MUCH FUN - the weather was perfect. Ella and I hadn't spent that much time outside EVER since she was born and that was a wonderful break. Not to mention the cider is so delicious!! If you come and visit us be sure to ask for some while you are here! Grandma Lois also took home a bunch of apples to make sweet Ella some pure applesauce that will be in the deep freeze until we start feeding solid foods. We visited some friends from David's past, stopped in at the Greenbrier hotel (huge, beautiful place that has a secret bunker to hide Congress in case of emergency - very cool), and drove all over the gorgeous fall countryside. Here are a few shots of our wonderful trip....Enjoy!

The big wooden thing is the cyder press in action. The tractor is holding all the apple scraps that are left over after squeezing all the juice (they get fed to the local deer when the operation is completed). And the table is showing almost all of the jugs of cyder we made that day. What you can't see is the amazing number of yellow jackets that also found our efforts a sweet reward (that is except for the dumb ones that drowned themselves in the pans of cyder). During most of the day the weather was nice and Ella and I enjoyed the breeze, but when it became chilly we curled Miss Ella up in a fuzzy blanket and she stayed nice and toasty.

Here are a few more photos of:
1. How beautiful the farm was
2. The fun we had picking apples of all kinds

3. Grandma loving on Ella while we picked apples


And a couple of neat shots of the Greenbriar Hotel where we shared a nice lunch and walked around the beautiful building and landscapes.
















We spent the last part of the trip celebrating Grandma Idleman's 78th birthday. It was the first time that Ella has met any of her great-grandparents and we had a really nice time just talking with them!

Four generations of Idlemans.