Yummy Apples & the Zoo!

We got to experience two of my favorite things from home this past week...ok, maybe not my favorite, but they are definitely fun...we went apple picking and to the zoo!!

Everyone from home has been talking recently about their apple picking adventures and I was feeling a little sad that we weren't going to get to take Autumn this year...UNTIL...Lauren and Maren from our playgroup told us about an apple picking place just 30 minutes away!! Yeah!! So after church on Sunday we loaded into the car and headed to The Culture Fruitiere in Henripont. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and a beautiful drive out to the farm...lots of open fields and even a boat elevator...haha! I had no idea what it's actually called, but there was a canal that just kind of ended and a large track type thing that apparently takes the boat from the lower canal to the higher one. And thanks to wikipedia...I just learned this is currently the tallest boat "elevator" in the world. Cool!! I'm glad we stumbled upon it. I bet it's even cooler to watch it move a boat...but nothing was happening when we drove by...oh well.

When we got to the farm we got a warm welcome from the owner...who asked if we spoke English...to which we replied yes ...we were of course assuming this meant so did see...but she proceeded to speak French with an English word thrown in every few words for good measure. Ha!! That pretty much sums up what "speaking English" means to many people around here. But we appreciated the effort. She set us out to go picking...Autumn even had her own chariot...



I think we picked about 5 pounds of delicious Jonagold apples and headed back to the barn...where we found Ali, Reagan, and Shannon! What a fun surprise! Reagan and Autumn had fun running around while the rest of us chatted and tasted some yummy apple juice! Then we all loaded up our goodies and headed home. It was a great day.

And the next day we got to join Maren & Julia, Lauren & JD, & Pennie & Griffin at the ZOO!!! Maren was nice enough to give Autumn and I a ride so we didn't have to try and find public transportation there! Planckendael zoo is about a half an hour outside of Brussels and a lovely little zoo. We saw zebras, giraffes, lions (Autumn loves to Roar!), and even a llama and some goats that we were able to pet. Autumn was not shy at all going right on up and petting the cute little goats. I was a little leary of it at first, but the goats didn't seem to mind and she was having a ball...giggling like crazy! After all that fun it was time for some lunch...so we had a yummy little picnic in the zoo cafeteria! It was a wonderful morning outing and I'm so happy the ladies let us tag along! We love getting out of the house and getting to explore our new home! And I hear you can buy season passes to Planckendael and the Antwerp Zoo...so we'll definitely have to look in to that for next year!