Can you smell it in the air? We are now just a few days away from the official start to fall, but as far as I’m concerned, my favorite season has already begun! There’s just something about the leaves changing colors, the smells, the activities. It feels nothing less than magical. It also means a lot of great opportunities for family fun!

We kicked off the fall season on Labor Day (a bit early, I know) with a trip to Belltown in Glastonbury for some good old-fashioned apple picking. We ended up with some pears and peaches as an added bonus too! I’m not sure what my kids enjoyed more; the tractor ride or stuffing their faces with the delicious fruit!

Another favorite fall activity of ours is going to at least one or two fairs. Especially ones that have a petting zoo where you can feed the animals. We also enjoy sampling some of the healthy (yeah right) fair foods, like fried dough and corn dogs. You know, the stuff we only ever eat when we are at the fair! We had a great time at the Hebron Harvest Fair earlier in the month and are now looking forward to the Berlin Fair in a couple of weeks. Attending the Berlin Fair is a yearly tradition that my husband has had with his family since he was a little boy. It’s even more special for us now that we get to carry on this tradition with our little girls!

My husband and I began our pumpkin picking tradition at Rose’s Berry Farm when we were dating and now we have so much fun bringing our daughters on the hay ride, walking through the corn maze and picking out the perfect pumpkins for our doorstep. They have so many other things for kids to enjoy in addition to picking pumpkins like face painting, Halloween croquet, an entire play area with a slide, and even a live scarecrow!

There’s really nothing better than sitting outside around a fire pit with an adult beverage in hand on a cool, crisp Fall night. Some nights, after the kids have gone to bed, my husband and I will do just that. Other times we’ll include the kids and toast marshmallows and make s’mores!

Can you smell it yet? The leaves, fair food, apples and cider, fires? Are you as excited as I am? So many opportunities to build fun, family memories! Hurry, because before you know it, winter will be knocking on our door!