Apple Pickin'

So, Matt's shadow is in the picture, but you get the idea...
we were pickin' our apples!!!

You would think by the title of this post you were about to hear all about picking apples... but you are getting so much more than that! Over the weekend we went to the Hillcrest Orchards up in Ellijay and we had a blast! The name of the place is so deceiving... there is so much more to do than picking apples. We saw a petting zoo, a moonshine museum, a farmhouse museum, went through a nature trail, went on a wagon ride, watched cornmeal being made, went down a big slide, saw Buttercup the cow, took our picture with a bull, watched the pork hill downs pig races AND picked us some apples! The craziest thing is... we didn't even do it all! Alot huh?!? The pig races were so much fun. There were 6 pigs that raced around a small track trying to be the first to get an oreo cookie! The bleachers were packed with fans cheering on their favorite pig. I personally wanted Hamgelina to win... cutest name ever! Hayden's favorite part of the day was the big slide. He LOVED it! He was smiling before we even sat down to slide. Lucky for him he got to do it twice... once with Mommy, and once with Daddy! We didn't actually pet any of the animals in the petting zoo, but we did get to see them. Matt spotted a tiny goat with little miniature horns that were just starting to grow. Absolutely the cutest thing you have ever seen. Next year I'll be brave and let Hayden hold a little goat just like him! We enjoyed both of the museums and the cornmeal exhibit. Now I know how they get that cornmeal for that oh so yummy cornbread! It is going to be a great learning experience for Hayden when he is a little older. Buttercup is a cow you can actually milk, but of course I didn't want Hayden to be touching that yet either! We did get to see her though! Maybe next year?!? The only type of apples we could actually pick were Rome Beautys, and they were quite beautiful. Although they were kind of hard to find(lots of people pickin' apples!), when you found one still on the tree it was so pretty. They were HUGE! We didn't fill up our apple bag with the apples we picked, so we finished it off by adding some apples to it from inside the farm market. That is also where we got our yummy to my tummy apple cider doughnuts and apple fritter!! Absolutely delicious. Here are some pictures from our day at the orchard!

Getting ready to go down the big slide!

So much fun!

As soon as I sat Hayden on Mr. Bull, he decided to start moving!

It never occurred to me that the bull might move, so that is
why my face looks like that! It really caught me off guard.
Hayden didn't seem near as startled as me!!

Time for some pig racing!

We got a front row seat to the races!

Hillbilly Billy, the announcer for the pig races, did a few poses for Matt!
He was such a great announcer. So funny!

Go, Hamgelina, Go!

I thought I would never get Hayden to wear a hat again, because
he just takes it off as soon as I put it on. Contrary to my
belief, he will wear hats, it just has to be cold outside!
You can tell by his little pink nose he was chilly!
He never even tried to get it off!

Tons of apple trees!

I mean we were IN the trees!

They were SO big!

The sweet man showing us how cornmeal is made.
Cool contraption huh?!?

This is where the moonshine was made back in the day!!

Daddy being silly in front of the Moonshine Museum!

Hayden trying to ride this crazy horse swing at the playground!

Waiting in line for our turn on the wagon ride.
Look at all those trees behind us!

And the lady who took this picture for us said,
"That was such a good picture."
Maybe she thought Hayden's face looked cute?!?

These were some of the things we saw while on our wagon ride!
The huge catfish sprayed us with water!

I couldn't miss the tractor photo op!

He even had fun playing with the apples once we got home!

As you can see, we LOVED the Hillcrest Orchards! We can't wait to go back next year!:)