I’m pretty behind on all my fall adventure posts, but we’ve been having a mild baby crisis around here. H’s been fighting a cold for most of October, it came back after her short-lived episode in September. Which meant sleepless nights and a wacky schedule. Then last night she was burning up and just a miserable, hot mess. So Adam and I both stayed home today to take her to the doctor. She has her first ear infection, not fun, so life has been interesting. And I was waiting for Adam to have a chance to give me some of the photos he’s been taking on all of our weekend excursions. Now I’m trying to catch up.

So a couple of weekends ago we had a great one for the Reeve clan. We celebrated Adam’s birthday by running around doing tons of classic fall things: ate at a turkey farm, went to an apple fritter stand, got mugged by a goat. You know, typical September stuff.

I’m not sure who enjoyed the lie in that Saturday more, the birthday boy or the baby. Weekends with the whole family in bed are quickly becoming my favorite thing ever.

Our first stop on Saturday was lunch at Hinck’s Turkey Farm. A teacher at school clued me in to this spot in Manasquan, and to Atlantic Farms right next door.

Adam hates when I post photos of him in The Orange Room, but I had to get something in there. This was his birthday weekend, after all.

Um, this place was amaaaazing. We have since tried to go back, but the lines were out the door once pumpkin picking season really kicked into gear. We will be trying again this weekend, though, I’m sure.

So we actually left the house hoping to go apple picking, but I misunderstood that Atlantic Farms was for pumpkins.

And a great petting zoo, this is where the goat mugged me.

You can buy $3 bags of carrot slices for the animals, and one of the goats stole it right out of my hand. He flipped the bag over in the air and stuck his whole muzzle into it, then he and his buddy tore it up. It would have been impressive, but all the carrots ended up on the ground right outside his fence. I think he learned the tough lesson that day that nobody wins when you steal.

H had a great time in the Baby Bjorn, especially now that she faces out. We didn’t use it much towards the end of summer, it was just too hot. But now it’s perfect.

And so is she!

Then we left Manasquan and headed over to Delicious Orchards to experience the fritter stand. I saw that stand closed up all summer during my berry adventures with H, and I’d been waiting patiently for it to open.

It did not disappoint. I think the birthday boy was properly entertained.

Then that Sunday, the 30th, it was time for the Harvest Home Festival and the jam competition! I can’t believe I never posted about that. All the competitions were judged inside this great log cabin room at Longstreet Farm.

I did not win. I lost out to a seedless blackberry jam, but now I’m super motivated to come back next year with a vengeance. Yes, my blackberry vanilla jam is almost impossible to eat without breaking a tooth. But it’s all about the flavor, and next year I will try to be patient and really strain those seeds out. I could have submitted my sublime strawberry jam, but I wanted to go with something that was my own tweaked recipe. But next year, look out berry season. I’ve got plans for you.

These guys were amazing, they were singing right outside the farm. The Chorus of the Atlantic, I loved them.

There were old-fashioned plowing demonstrations. Kids could actually help do that.

And just cool kid activities everywhere you looked. This is definitely something we’ll have to add to our annual traditions, because once this kid is mobile she’ll love it here.

So, I think we did alright by Adam this year in terms of funning it up for his birthday. Oh, and he also got gifts. A TiVo Stream from me (just the excuse he needed to go and replace all of our old TiVos), and a Raspberry Pi from H. H’s present was the real hit, apparently she has been designated the coolest gift giver in Adam’s office. Who knew?