I was first inspired to have an End of Summer Picnic with my family after reading this post about having a Little House on the Prairie inspired picnic. I have a child who was born on the first day of Autumn, and Fall is our favorite time of year, so I thought this would be a great way to say goodbye to Summer and have a bit of a pre-celebration for our little guy as we ring in our favorite season.
I’ve always wanted to have a fried chicken picnic (have you ever seen the movie Follow Me Boys?), but I don’t make fried chicken. I know that sounds lame, but my husband doesn’t like it, and I really don’t want to make that kind of mess in my kitchen. However, my children do like fried chicken, so I decided to buy some at the store and save myself the hassle and make the preparation for this picnic that much easier.
We spread a quilt on the ground, and brought out the fried chicken. My oldest daughter made her famous homemade lemonade:
2 c. lemon juice
2 c. sugar
1 gallon water
Stir well, and serve iced.
The Little House picnic mentioned having apple pie. I’ve been wanting to make apple pie, so this was my opportunity to do so. I used our family pie crust recipe (I used unbleached flour this time instead of whole wheat), and a simple apple pie filling made from sliced apples, sugar, flour, and apple pie spices. My 11 year old added some brown sugar and apple pie spice to the top of the pie, along with a cutout of a hummingbird from the leftover pie crust. It was delicious!
During our picnic, we talked about our Summer – what we remember most, and we talked about the upcoming Fall season – what we are looking forward to. We reminisced, made plans, and enjoyed the weather and fellowship. It was simple, but lovely.
And now, let’s ring in Autumn!
Would you like to do a apple-theme in your homeschool? Check out my post on Homeschooling with Apples.
Do you love Little House on the Prairie? Check out my post on Homeschooling with Little House on the Prairie.
And don’t forget my Autumn Pinterest board and my Little House on the Prairie Pinterest board!
Rebecca says
Looks and sounds like fun! Did you go somewhere special or just into the yard? We have a screened in back porch and some of our best memories are lunches outside on it or on our back porch swing reading books. This past summer, we piled on the back porch swing one Saturday night and watched the sunset and listened to the frogs and summer bugs and watched the cows in the pasture behind our house while we ate a snack….better than TV! It doesn’t happen a lot but we always talk about times like that and how relaxing it was. We actually remember things like that more than the “big” stuff.
Amy says
Isn’t it amazing how those simple things are the memories we make? I still remember an older lady inviting my family out to her country house when I was little so we could watch the sunset and talk. And yes, we just set it up in our backyard. It is fenced in so if the toddler started to wander, I wouldn’t feel stressed. 😉
Charlotte Moore says
What a fun thing to do. I know the kiddos loved that. I looked at the whole wheat pie crust recipe. That is the most liquid I have ever seen in 2 cups of flour for a crust. Almost all recipes call for so many tablespoons of water. Hard to imagine it ever absorbing it all.
Amy says
Because it is so “wet”, you roll it between floured wax paper. It is the only crust I have ever actually WANTED to eat. It really is worth it!
Josi says
What a blast! Good for you Amy 🙂
Diana says
I love this idea, Amy! We are going to try it this weekend – a little late, but better late than never! We have made your Caramel Apple Party an annual tradition in our home (I think we’re going on our third year this fall?), so those two will be perfect pairing! Thank you for these lovely family ideas. I am not good at thinking of traditions on my own, but when I come across the lovely ideas you post, they’re so fun to incorporate into our family. Thank you for your blog!!
Diana says
P.S. Thanks also for the lemonade recipe! The one I have always used is twice as strong, and I’ve always thought it was a bit too strong. Your recipe is lovely – and makes a lot more! 🙂
Amy says
How fun! Can’t wait to hear about it! And I am so thrilled you have made one of our traditions such a part of your own family fabric!
Diana says
Just a quick note that we did have our end-of-summer picnic, Amy! 🙂 I pretty much copied your menu – we had fried chicken, apple pie, watermelon, and limeade. We took it to a national park location and had a fun time, and then the guys headed off for a snake hunt (alas, no snakes). Then we watched the eclipse on the way home! 🙂
Thanks again – I plan to make this a regular event for our family!
Diana
Amy says
Oh how fun! Thank you for sharing!