Picking Apples

This past Thursday we went to Johnson's Farm in Bedford, VA and picked apples.  It was a first for all of us and it was a lot of fun!  It was about an 1.5 hour drive but it was worth it.  Beautiful scenery and a perfect family trip.

We picked out the size of sack we wanted to fill and then set off into the orchard to pick our apples.

It was easy to do, and we didn't need any special equipment to do it.

Most of them were down low so they were easy to pick.

Josh was a great apple picker, he could have filled several more bags if we would have let him.

Some of them were up high so a little help was needed.

This one came away with a bit of branch, I thought it looked cool!

My little apple pickers!

There are over 100 varieties of apples in their orchards.

Simon must have had a sour apple...

They had a little train that the boys played in for awhile.

Caleb posed with a Johnny Appleseed statue.  We will definitely be back to Johnson's Farm! 

All Aboard!

The boys were invited to a birthday party at the Transportation Museum in Roanoke.  We had been before and it is a very good museum.  It is right on part of the railroad system and so there are lots of old trains to look at.  This time they actually had a train we could ride!  We rode in the refurbished caboose and once was not enough.  We had to go two times!

The caboose. We sat up in the top part!

 There were two sides with two sections of seats.  Troy took Caleb and Simon to sit with him on one section.

Josh and I sat in the other section facing them.

On the other side were the rest of the kids for the party.  They really had so much fun!

 There is a little kitchen area with wood burning stove and all.  It was so fun to imagine the life that the men had on these trains. 

Chugging along!

Chattanooga

On the way home from Texas we stayed in Chattanooga, Tennessee for a night.  The next morning we woke up to ride the Lookout Mountain incline train and to check out a Civil War park.  The Chattanooga Choo Choo does not run on Monday's but that gives us another reason to go back and visit Chattanooga.

Getting ready for the ride!  Simon was so excited.

Going up!  You sit facing looking down the mountain as you go up and down. 

We passed the 2nd train.  It was on it's way down.

View from the top.

Entrance to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.  Point Park.  Where a Civil War battle, battle of Lookout Mountain, was fought.

They thought this entrance to the park looked like a castle. 

View from park. 

 Can you imagine the soldiers fighting all over this mountain?  It was just amazing to me.

The boys liked acting out battle with the cannons.

The littlest soldier even helped.

A memorial for both sides.  On top, a Union and Confederate soldier shake hands.

Close up of the soldiers.

Confederate.

Union

The views were just beautiful.

We will definitely make an effort to go back to Chattanooga.  The boys loved checking out everything in the park and it was a good opportunity for us to teach them a little of our American history too!