Part 3—the Apple Orchard!

Today we were able to go on our very first field trip! Woo hoo! To finish out our apple theme, we went to the apple orchards, and we had a blast!!!!

When we first arrived, the kids looked around for a minute.  The first thing they noticed was this skeleton—he was sitting in the outhouse with his bright “kisses” underwear around his knees.  Every few seconds a recording would start with the skeleton talking about the farm.  The kids were all MESMORIZED by this guy! They called him the “potty man” and they kept asking to go and see him! So Austin, when the kids told you about the “potty man,” this is what they meant! : )

 

At first the kids didn’t know what the heck was going on, ha ha (also, notice their warm clothes.  By the time we left the orchard, the temperature was still only 58 degrees! So it was a pretty chilly day for us!):

Some more talking skeletons.  These were on a broken-down truck and they obviously had had a little too much cider! : )

 

After a few minutes, our driver arrived and we were able to hop on a train that took us out to the apple trees:

 

Then we had so much fun picking our apples! Each kid was able to pick five apples.  Makenna loved seeing apple trees up close after studying them the past two weeks!

      

Walking back to our train:

 

Showing off their bounty:

After stowing our apples in the car, we headed back to the Cider Mill for fresh apple cider and doughnuts.

   

Then we went inside to watch the apples be made into cider:

 

Then we went back outside to the Funyard to play!

How cool is this hay bale?

Of course, all of the kids instantly went back to the “potty man”!

Then we wondered over to a little playground:

   

Makenna and her friend Cayson:

      

Next we went into the barn to see the animals:

 

This little goat was the EXACT same size as Max and he LOVED Max!

Max thought the goat was pretty cool too! The goat would turn his head one way, and Max would mimic him.  Then Max would turn his head the other way, and the goat would copy him.  Ha ha, pretty cute!

Then another goat got jealous and Max was surrounded by goats on each side, ha ha.  I’m not kidding you—it was pretty hilarious!

Max followed this little boy, Cayson, around everywhere! In fact, if Max began to dawdle we would say, “Max, where is Cayson?” and he would hurry to catch up to his friend! : )

When we left the barn, two of the moms and kids had to leave.  But our friend Jen and her two kids (Lily and Cayson) stayed for a couple more hours with us.  Here are the four amigos (Cayson-he just turned 4, Makenna, Max, and Lily-she is 1):

Pretty cute kids! We stopped and had our picnic lunch, and then we headed out to play some more!

One of my kids’ favorite things was the “Tricycle Track.” They had all sorts of different tricycles set up that the kids could ride around a little track.  My kids would have stayed there all day (the tricycles were all too big for Max, but he made it work by sitting on the bar!)! I took SO many cute pictures of the kids on the bikes:

You can’t see Max in any of the pictures, however, because he had to be like Cayson and put his hood on, thus covering up his cute face! : ) But notice how he is sitting on the trike:

       

Max and his buddy Cayson (in their sweatshirts it was hard to tell who was who—even though Cayson is double Max’s size!):

We finally pried the kids off the bikes and got lost in a corn maze. : ) Makenna and Cayson led the way, and we let them get us good and lost before I started to get claustrophobic and we needed to get out of there, ha ha.

  

Let’s see, what else? We went into the Storybook Barn.  They had different scenes set up.  You pushed a button and the figures “came to life” and told nursery rhymes.

At this point my batteries in my camera died and that’s all the pictures you get! : )

But we also went into a spook alley.  We thought it would be pretty tame, and it was, but it was too scary for the kids (it was pitch black in there and there were flashing lights and loud noises) so we had four crying kids on our hands! However, once we got out, Max said, “Do it again!” I seriously think we have a little dare-devil on our hands!

Hmm, what else… they had hay you could jump on and a tractor to climb on… plus lots more silly, talking skeletons! However, we stayed there over four hours and we were all pretty beat so it was time to head home!  When we got home the kids and I took LONG naps! I think we got super worn out today, but it was a blast! If that is what field trips are like, I’m looking forward to the years of them ahead!