Friday Fall Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope it's been a good week at your house.  We were dragging a bit after having a week off for Fall break + it was much cooler in Indiana this week.  Thankfully we were able to squeeze in lots of good moments together.

Did you catch my blog posts this week?

Fall Break at Devil's Lake

Ski Hi Fruit Farm

Wisconsin Highlights

Now onto my favorite moments of the week:

1. Harvest Week

The boys were SO excited that we made it home in time for harvest week in our backyard.  We never know when it will happen so we are always on high alert when we see the fields around us being harvested.  Our farmer neighbors are so nice.  They honked and waved at the boys in the middle of their busy days.  We didn't even know that tractors had horns.  Fletcher videoed for Leo to watch later and they both loved all the excitement.  They were harvesting soy beans this year and the fields were busy all week.  Now we get to watch the deer in the evenings.

2. Floral Jacket

This jacket was a favorite find!  I like to pick up fun accessories when we go on trips to remember the trip by and this jacket was my Wisconsin souvenir.  It's winter floral perfection.  It's the perfect cropped jacket.  It's just slightly shorter than a regular jacket and will still keep you warm and cozy.  Check out the Time and Tru coats at Walmart.  They're under $30 and the quality is nice!  I have a black and a pink coat from several years ago from this same brand and both are still going strong.

3. Gummy Skittles

Kevin bought some Halloween candy and we broke into it already when we saw a new gummy to try.  These Skittles Gummies are SO GOOD.  The flavor is exactly like skittles and it has the perfect gummy texture.  10/10 recommend them if you love gummies.

4. Pumpkin Patch

We took the kids to a nearby pumpkin patch to pick out their pumpkins.  It's simple and sweet and a favorite tradition of ours.  It was cool and drizzly.  The kids picked out their favorite pumpkins and are excited to carve them later this month.  This is the perfect example of toddlers loving pumpkin patch pictures. And the big kids humor me with one picture :)

5. Make me cozy

Leo has started perching himself in a cozy spot and yelling for us to come and make him cozy.  That usually means a snack and a blanket with his favorite show or a bed full of cars.  It's my favorite to look into my room and see him all stretched out on my bed.

6. Chick Fil A Date

We don't eat out very often so it's extra fun when we get lunch out when the kids are off of school.  We went through the CFA drive thru and hurried home to enjoy our meal.  Waffle fry cheers!

7. Browsing

The big kids love browsing the toy aisles.  Since they were on Fall Break we ran some errands and did some browsing.  They snapped pictures for their Christmas wish lists.

8.  Teacher gift ideas

Shopping for the kid's teachers is my favorite thing.  I try to send them in a little something + a note of thanks once a month.  I let the kids pick out Fall blankets for their teachers.  They were just $9.97 and really plush.  Aren't they cute!?  The navy pumpkin pattern was a big hit and so was the dog blanket.  Also, Fletcher as a monster Squishmallow is my favorite.  He said it wasn't spooky enough for a 7 year old, but I thought he looked so sweet.

9. Fall Party

We went to a Fall Party for Kevin's department and it was lots of fun.  Our kids are the only little kids there and they did so well.  They talked to coworkers and handled themselves like old pros.  It's my favorite to see glimpses of life with big kids and going out and about being less stressful than it is with little kids.  We loved the mexican dinner buffet and I made school color cookies for them.  Both big kids won raffle prizes and Fletcher was brave enough to go in front of the crowd to collect the prizes.

10. Polka Dot Cafe

We met some friends at this cute indoor play place this week.  Leo was taking note of new favorite toys.  The kids played and the moms talked.  It's my favorite set up.

11. Meow

The cats missed us while we were out of town so their favorite moment of the week was having us home.  Pearl loves to be held.  Topher matches the orange pumpkins.  Penny likes to lounge on the stairs.

12. BFFs

Leo's bestie had a birthday party this week and it was so much fun.  What 3 year old wouldn't love a monster truck themed party and the adults appreciated the Fall drinks.

13. Brothers

I love matching these two!  Old Navy always has cute holiday shirts.  These skate boarding ghosts were the perfect spooky not scary Halloween shirt for them.  Their favorite things are matching clothes and a big breakfast.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  We're celebrating my mom's birthday tonight and Kevin's playing in a golf tournament tomorrow.  I'll see you next week with a fun house update and a teacher gift idea that's under $10.

Linking up with Momfessionals

Wisconsin Highlights

Thanks for going on a Wisconsin trip recap with me this week!  

Today I'm going to share the simple and sweet highlights from another fun stay at Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells.  We were surprised at how empty the resort was in early October.  I think our Fall Break was earlier than most so that worked in our favor for really low crowds.  This trip was different than others because we only swam one day and spent the other days doing fun stuff in the area.  I have a feeling as the kids get older that our trips will be more like this one.  One day on property and other days out and about especially if we go up any time other than Summer.

Wisconsin Highlights: 

And as always, I hope you know that there were definitely highs and lows with our trip.  I'm sharing the highs because that's more fun than talking about car sickness, newly potty trained Leo logistics to navigate, poor sleep, construction/farming slow downs and more.  The highs and lows always go together, but the highs are what we remember.

1. Pumpkins

The whole place was covered in pumpkins and mums.  It was so pretty!  The weather couldn't have been nicer for us.  It was much colder than home and we loved it.  I took this picture on our first day there and every time we walked past this bench Leo insisted that I take his picture for the rest of the trip.  Toddlers are funny!

2. Arcade Time

The kids LOVE claw machines and playing at the arcades.  Leo loves the rubber duck machines and the big kids go for the Squishmallow machines.  They all came home with fun prizes from the arcades.

3. Patio Bros

These two bundled up and loved hanging out on the patio.  Leo drove cars.  Fletcher watched the deer and horses on the horse trail.  The stars were gorgeous at night and we had a fire going in the fire place.  I'm glad I brought lots of layers and blankets for us to snuggle up in the condo

4. Camp Social

We did one big breakfast at the buffet and it was delicious.  I was in charge of getting my plate and Leo's plate.  This was our first trip to mostly ditch the stroller and high chair.  Leo is growing up!

5. Play Pool

Kevin gave pool playing lessons in the evenings.

6. Swim Day

We hit all our favorite spots - lazy river with the boys, toddler area, hot tubs, wave pool and big slides with Kevin.  It was great to do one swim day with the weather being cold.

7. Happy Halloween

It was really cute to see the resort decorated for Halloween.  We headed down to the kid's club to do lots of Halloween crafts each day.

8. Blue skies and sunshine almost the whole time!

9. Half Birthday

Leo turned 3 1/2 on our trip so we got donuts to celebrate!  We sang and he loved it.  Now he tells everyone he's four.  Which is funny until you're paying for wagon ride tickets and 3 is free and 4 is not and he's insisting that he's 4.  And it looks like we're lying.  Silly kid.

10. Horseback Riding

Kevin took the big kids to go horse back riding.  They were the last ride of the day and got to go with just them and the guide.  They had the best time seeing the pretty leaves and spotting deer.  Fletcher's horse liked to rub on the big trees so he came back with a few extra scratches, but overall, they love to go horse back riding so much.

We love Wisconsin!

Ski Hi Fruit Farm

We wrote down the name of a nearby fruit farm the last time we were in Wisconsin so that we could visit another time - Ski Hi Fruit Farm.  I followed their social media and knew that our Fall trip would be the perfect time for apple picking.  Kevin paid attention to the weather and we headed to Baraboo, Wisconsin to pick apples on the weekend.  It's just a few minutes from Devil's Lake so we picked apples first and then headed to the park.

We arrived at Ski Hi (Sky High) and navigated the people and the signs on a Saturday afternoon.  It was busy but totally manageable.  We wanted to do U-pick apples so we headed to park down in the orchard to pick apples and do the wagon ride.  

Ski Hi is the largest, coolest apple orchard we have ever visited.  They have almost 10,000 apple trees and an amazing shop and property.  You prepay for the hayride through the orchard and buy your bag to fill with apples.  You pay one price for all the apples and a little more if you also want to pick Honeycrisp apples.

Our review of Ski Hi: 

We loved it so much that we went two days in a row!!

The wagon ride was neat.  You learned lots about the 100+ year old family owned orchard and got to see really pretty views of the orchard.  They give you blankets to cover up with which we appreciated.  It lasts about 30 minutes so it felt worth the price.

We bundled up more for our second visit.  Everyone wore every layer they had packed.  We talked to the nicest customers and employees during our visit.  And I'm always thankful to be able to get a family picture when we go somewhere fun.

The apple trees were LOADED with apples.  It was so nice to have tons of apples low enough for all of the kids to pick.  Even Leo had an abundance of apple options to choose from.

On the wagon ride.  Leo was mad because I told him to take a break from eating apples.  Poor guy.

I love this picture of Olive.  This side of the wagon looked like an advertisement for Wisconsin with all their Wisconsin/Wilderness Resort gear.

Fletch was eager to sample and pick his way through the orchard.

We got one bag to fill each time we went.  One day we picked Honeycrisp and the other day we focused on the rest of the apples - Jonathan, Golden Delicious, Cortland and another dark red apple.  We picked two huge bags full of apples, were encouraged to sample as we picked and are now wishing we'd picked more because our apple stash is dwindling.

Two horse brothers pull the wagon and two dogs run through the orchard with you.  We all enjoyed the views and learning more about Ski Hi.

There is a small petting farm located next to the store where you can pet and feed the animals.  We loved the friendly creatures - ducks, turkey, pig, alpacas, sheep and goats.

There is a tiny air strip next to the orchard so the boys loved watching small planes come and go.

Leo ate apples the entire time we were in the orchard.

We weren't sure that we needed to visit the store, but I love a good store.  We headed inside and are so glad we did.  They had everything apple and tons of Ski Hi merch.  It was an amazing place.  They served hard cider and mixed drinks.  Kevin got an apple old fashioned.  And we got cider and warm apple cider donuts.  Everything we tried was delicious.  They also have food truck options outside and a brat stand.

I promise Ski Hi is the dreamiest place to spend a few hours in the Fall.  You'll love the views, the fall colors and every apple product we sampled was so good.

Look at this pretty assortment of apples! I'm eager to make a pie.

Add Ski Hi to your Wisconsin radar!

I hope you get to go apple picking with your family this Fall.  This was our first time picking apples out of state and it was really fun.  We'd recommend it if you're traveling this Fall.