A Fall Trip to Boyd Orchard

I was so lucky to be in Kentucky during the peak of autumn. The week that we spent before Halloween had to have had the most colorful leaves that I've seen in a long time. We really enjoyed a beautiful drive to Boyd orchard on the Monday of that week. It was chilly and overcast, but the Kentucky countryside couldn't have been more beautiful.

Beautiful Pisgah Pike.

I don't believe I've seen many more beautiful places on Earth.

Pisgah Presbyterian Church. I would have LOVED to have gotten married in this beautiful little church, but LITTLE is the most appropriate word to describe it!

Mom and I took the kids to Boyd Orchard, our current favorite. We tend to go there pretty frequently in the summer and autumn because of their playground and their awesome cafe. I was so excited to get to go and do all the fall activities.

Maura was so excited about the pumpkins. She took off running first thing and ran all over the "pumpkin patch."

She was so excited to be back at Boyd Orchard. She remembered it from past visits. By the way, yes that is a snake in her hand. It is made of rubber and it's one of her favorite toys. She "stole" it off my grandparent's porch, named it Sneaky Snake and now plays with it all the time!

Grammy and Tristan picked out the perfect pumpkin. It was just the right size for a little man.

Maura found a cute little pumpkin too. She was immediately attracted to the smallest ones she could find.

I took Maura for a wagon ride around the pumpkin patch. She loved it, especially when I ran with the wagon.

They have a great slide at the orchard and unfortunately this is the only photo I have of her on it. She LOVED the slide this time. On past visits, she hasn't been so sure she loved shooting down the slide at such a high rate of speed. I climbed up with her and she slid down flat on her back. She was so excited that she made it halfway back up the hay bales before I even started down to get her. Luckily the place wasn't crowded(because it was FREEZING) so she was able to get her fill of sliding. Mom held Tristan while we played and they stayed outside for about five minutes before he started screaming because of the cold. It was only about 45 degrees outside and the wind was blowing. BRRRRR.

Maura and I discovered the petting zoo at the back of the play area. Maura was hooked. She loved being able to see and touch all the animals and she was content to just watch them for a very long time. I, on the other hand, was freezing and ready to move on to another activity!

Maura loved the turkey. It kept gobbling at her and she'd giggle each time it made a noise. It was the first thing that she wanted to feed when she got her animal food, but it wasn't interested. Oh well.

Maura was interested in the pig, but also afraid of it. The pig was barely moving, except to breathe, and not exactly intimidating, but she'd only touch it with one finger.

My little lamb. I can't believe I got her to pose. It must have been the pumpkin that she got to stand on for the photo.

Moooo!

I think she like the pig cut out the best.

It was a day of amazing photographic cooperation!

We walked all the way back to the barn to beg two quarters off of Grammy so we could feed the animals. Maura LOVED it. She thought it was so funny when they licked her hand.

What a difference four months makes. When we came to Boyd's in June, Maura would NOT climb through these tubes. She liked to look into them and climb on the hay but there was no way to induce her to get into them. This time, she ran right into them and climbed on through. She had a ball! By this point, I've turned into an icicle because I'm not running around like a two year old, so I used my best persuasive techniques to induce her to quit the playground and head in for lunch...bribery!!

Teething much, Tristan? Poor little guy had a tooth break through the very next day. He was nice and comfy and warm when we got back into the barn. He'd taken a great nap with Grammy in the front pack while we shivered outside! We had a great trip to Boyd's despite the cold and really just enjoyed the fall day.