Licking Goats, Chasing Chickens, Neighing Ponies

The day my Mom had to take off we decided to hit one last place....

We went last year at almost the same exact time of year.  One of my mom's dreams is to one day have a little animal farm in her backyard for all the grandchildren.  She wants to copy the idea at Apple Holler by building bridges for the goats to walk over from pen to pen.

A little pulley system to feed the goats.

Talmage was not scared of the licking goats, at all.

In fact, he loved the licking part.

My mother is so funny.  Here we have, another, almost-pee-my-pants-from-laughing-at-her moment.  She found this chicken on the wrong side of the fence, and it was acting like it wanted to get back in.  So what does she do?

Corners it...

Grabs it...

And puts it back....

Talmage was a little embarrassed by her chasing chickens so he decided to take off in his, "choo choo" (thats what he calls a train).

The blasted Train wasn't running, so he never got his ride.  But he got to explore the tunnels.

This is a comparison of last year.  Look how big he is now.

Lots of fun things to climb on and slide down.

Another train.  He was in, "Choo choo" heaven.

We bought 3 tickets so Tal could go on a pony ride.  I thought this was a brilliant idea, because, he loves horses do much.

Unfortunately, he was really scared of the pony.  It didn't help that it kept neighing really loudly.

We did the side saddle thing for half a turn around the circle and decided he wasn't loving it. He kept trying to jump into my arms.  The nice horse trainer girl (who looks like Natalie Portman's twin I swear) gave us our three tickets back.  Thank you.

All the other "attractions" that took tickets were not running that day, were closed off, or too big for Talmage to go on.  Although, we did find this big slide that costs one ticket per ride.  Problem was, no one was there to take our tickets.  So I unlatched the gate, climbed up the stairs and took Tal down the slide three times. Problem solved, and no wasted tickets.

He loved it, I am glad I broke the rules a bit.  At least I got this smile out of him.  He he he

After all the shenanigans, my mother treated us to lunch at Apple Hollers delicious restaurant.  Then we had to take her to the airport and say our goodbyes.  I hate goodbyes, especially when people come here to visit.  Thanks again mom.  I love you! It was so good to have you with us.