Gilcrease Orchard, Year #4

Keeping with our yearly fall tradition, we made our way across town to Gilcrease Orchard to pick our annual pumpkins!  This may be one of my favorite traditions of all the holidays we celebrate, and each year tends to get better and better.  The weather was gloomy and cloudy when we first arrived, with some overcast clouds making for real fall feeling weather.  It couldn't have been more perfect!  As the day wore on and the sun came out, it heated up quickly and started to become quite warm, as it usually is when we visit every year.  Regardless, we had our fair share of pumpkin hopping, hay climbing, and our usual inhaling of those amazing apple cider donuts! Yum!

Nolan loved being able to run around up and down the aisles of pumpkins this year, trying to keep up with Dad, looking for the best pumpkins out there to our liking (Nolan like's the bright round orange ones, Daddy likes the ugly, most grotesque pumpkins, and I'm a fan of the flatter, Cinderella shaped pumpkins).  Nolan liked looking at each one but wasn't a fan of walking through the mud and vines... he often asked for help and struggled to get to the places he wanted to go!  Once we found some pumpkins we thought were our best fit, Nolan helped Daddy load them up in the wagon and tried to help out by pulling them.  Although he got a few inches travelled, Dad took over to save little man's muscles.  

We stopped by the hay bales and Nolan loved walking in circles around the square.  He had fun climbing the bales, and made friends with the scarecrows again (just like our pop-up pumpkin patch adventures), and cheesed it up for the camera while playing. 

While at the orchard, we initially took our announcement photos for Baby #2 in the apple orchards, and although I like how they came out, it was hard to read the Big Brother sign and wasn't the best we could get, so we decided to go a different route for our official announcement picture (bump watch at 11 weeks).  Either way, these were too cute to pass up and Nolan looks so proud of his new role of Big Bro!

Finally, after paying for our pumpkins and finding out the apple cider was sold out for the season (wah!) we made our way to wait in line for the famous apple cider donuts.  Even though the line is long, I swear they are completely worth it, and we may have ordered three orders too many (but ate them all).  I'd wait hours for these babies every year!  Before we left, we made sure to take Nolan's picture in front of the signature Gilcrease barn, in which the mural changed this year and I absolutely love it!  

We love coming here every year and know this will stay as a family tradition for a long, long time.  It's one of the few things in Vegas that is offered that really makes you feel like you are outside of Vegas, ironically, and we love that!  Here's to another year, pumpkins, and memories made!