The Parrillo Family

Too early for apples?  That's ok.  We'll pick berries.  The kids had a great time at the All Seasons Orchard in Woodstock, Illinois.  When it comes to orchards and apples and U-Pick places....Wisconsin (or far Northern Illinois for that matter) is no Michigan, that's for sure. We took the exact same picture two years ago.  Check it out here .  Frankie had some salad!

This year we went apple picking like we usually do every fall.  The difference?  We didn't go to Michigan.  (sad face)  We went apple picking in Illinois!  On the way up to Twin Lakes in Wisconsin at a place called All Seasons Orchard.   We had a great time and picked a bunch of honey crisps! It appears that I didn't post photos of apple picking last year in 2016.  But, here's the post from 2015 when we picked at Crane's in Michigan . Here's the photos from 2014 when we picked at Jollay's in Michigan .  Nat was VERY pregnant with the Big Beef at the time! Here's the photos from 2013 when we picked at Jollay's in Michigan with the full Parrillo clan. We were joined by Grammy and Granddad and really liked our first trip to All Seasons.  I think we'll be back.

We spent a few days this past weekend up in Michigan where were were able to relax, enjoy the late summer/early fall days with the kids.  We started the weekend with a visit to Crane's Orchard in Fennville, Michigan which is about 30 minutes away from Noonie and Papa's place in Coloma. We've been to Crane's a few times in the past including back in 2011 when Ellie was just a little peach-eating-thing .  But other years, like last year, we've gone to other orchards like Jollay's right in Coloma.   Here's photos from our apple picking trip in 2014 when Nat was pretty pregnant with The Beef . We went peach picking earlier this year at Jollay's.   You can see the photos here . In 2013, we went with the full Parrillo cousin contingent . Based on the guidance from Noonie, we went up this past weekend because it was 'prime' (as she said) Honeycrisp Apple picking time.  When we arrived, the orchard lots were full and the Honeycrisp apple trees...

As we've done in year's past, we took the girls up to Michigan to go apple picking.  Because of the baby coming in October, we had to go up there a bit earlier this year and as such, not all of the apples were ready and we weren't able to make the trip with the girl's cousins like we've done in year's past. Here's last year's post with photos of the girls and their cousins . And here's a post that shows baby Eloise back in 2011 at the same orchard . It was a really nice weekend get-away that was just us - a family of four - that we were able to enjoy having *just* the girls before the chaos that comes with a new baby in October.