Beautiful Fall Weekend

Fall doesn't officially begin until Wednesday Sep 22, but I felt like celebrating early, so I suggested an outing to the Louisburg Cider Mill. My parents wanted to come along, so we all piled into the Rav 4 and headed south. If you have never been to the Louisburg Cider Mill, it's definitely a great fall tradition. We went last year when Ella was only about a month old, and we had a wonderful time. This year, it was a little more low key. We walked through the country store and left with a bag full of fresh apple cider, warm cider doughnuts, and homemade pumpkin butter. I also had to try their cream soda since it's one of my all-time favorite drinks. I certainly wasn't disappointed.

We peeped in the windows of the mill and didn't see a whole lotta action, just a boat load of apples. We also caught a glimpse of a woman making apple butter. Or pumpkin butter. Or peach butter. Or one of their hundreds of kinds of butter! Here are some adorable pics of Ella Bean in the pumpkin patch. The first one is almost identical to the one we took of her last year ... what a difference a year makes!

By the way, the second pic is what Ella does when you ask her how old she is ... smart girl!

Instead of paying an arm-and-a-leg for the corn maze and kids zone, we decided to head down the road to the Somerset Ridge Winery, which I had heard about from a friend. We pulled up to a beautiful scene ... live music being played while a group of people sat sipping wine on the veranda.

Inside the tasting room, we didn't hesitate to try the variety of wines they had to offer. I left with a bottle of my favorite .. Oktoberfest, along with a delicious smelling cinnamon cider soy candle that I couldn't pass up.

When we got home, I broke out my huge rubbermaid box of fall decorations, and oh boy, I was so excited to pop that baby open. I was instantly hit with the amazing smells ... fall wreaths, pumpkins and gourds of all shapes and sizes, pumpkin and cider candles, and everything else I was able to snatch up on sale last winter. All in all, today was a great way to celebrate a crisp, beautiful, almost-offically-fall day. We ended it with warm bread and homemade cream of chicken and wild rice soup. Yummy! I will post the recipe soon!