Fall Means Cider Mills

 As the weather has gotten cooler, I've been dying to go to a cider mill again.  I heard from others that they are a very different experience during Covid and so I was a bit hesitant, but after checking the website of my favorite, I found that it was pretty much the same with only a few exceptions, so we took a chance.  I'm so glad we did.  It was so fun.  Plus, I was really excited to show Peter all the farm animals.  Up until now he's only ever seen them in pictures.  They could be as imaginary as the dinosaurs and unicorns in his books. It was his first time seeing a real chicken, a real pig, etc. and he seemed to really enjoy it.  However, the slide was his favorite part.  He loves slides, especially when he can go down them head-first.  The first time he did that at a playground - just launched himself down headfirst before I realized what was happening - I about had a heart attack.  He laughed the whole way down.  Now he does it all the time.  He's never gotten hurt, although if the slide is fast, I always grab his leg at the end so he doesn't go shooting off into the dirt.

I tried to get a good picture of him looking at me, but he was far too fascinated by the animals on the board to turn around.

I made Bella my photographer so I could hold him by the animals.  He liked them, but got a bit nervous if he was alone by the pens and they came right up to the fence.

Not pictured: getting the apple cider and donuts because as soon as you bring that stuff outside, the wasps swarm you!  I wasn't out 10 seconds and I had one after me.  Bella has never forgotten the wasp sting she got at Three Cedars, so we saved that purchase for the very end and hightailed it to the car as soon as we had them.  We ate them at home with Kelly and Benjamin and it worked out much better that way.