apple holler

since we are going to church on saturday nights now we have been trying to have some family time on sunday. this week we went to apple holler. i am not too sure how to describe it. it is a destination apple orchard on the illinois/wisconsin state line. every time we pass it on the way to chicago i say that i want to go there some fall - well this was the year!

it was really cold, but sunny so there were quite a few people there. it didn't hurt that there is no admission price, just activity fees (in tickets, not cash). i can't imagine what it would have been like on a warmer day. matt thought some of the crowd was due to both the packers and the bears having a bye week. we were there shortly after it opened and got to do a few things without any lines. including madelyn's first choice - a pony ride! when we were walking over from the parking lot madelyn saw the ponies and started to cry and pull daddy's arm when we started walking away from them towards the entrance.

on the way to the pony rides we stopped to feed the goats. one of them was really, really hungry and would even 'ram' other goats out of the way while madelyn did some feeding.

they have this long bridge that the goats can walk on that madelyn thought was pretty neat (daddy and i did too).
and now for the pony ride! madelyn didn't hesitate at all. she just went right up to the pony and let the worker put her on it. she held on tight and told us that she did a couple of times afterwards. here is video of her first pony ride:

there were so many unique things to do there, but like anywhere else we go, if there is a playset that is what she wants to do.
this picture shows the view of all the goings on at apple holler.
madelyn and i rode the tracker 'train'. my ride was free and once i got in i realized why - let's just say that my legs worked as a safety bar over madelyn's lap. matt said that he should have taken a picture of me trying to get in.

i think the 'cow' maze was another favorite activity from the day. she didn't hesitate and just took off running through the maze. i had to work to keep up with her. i think we would have lost her in the corn maze because we wouldn't have been able to watch her over the 'walls'.

poor mason didn't enjoy it much because he was too warm with his fleece jumper, blanket, and hat. at least i thought that was the problem. it wasn't until we got home that i realized that he had a diaper explosion that went up his back and down one of his sleeves! so gross! i stripped him down and after a bath he was back to his super smiley self. love.