It’s time for fall, my favorite time of year! And one of my favorite things to do is go to the Cider Mill. Last year on our trip to the Cider Mill, Ellie was just crawling and couldn’t eat donuts. But this year, it was a whole other story. We planned a trip with our friends Kelly and Evelyn to enjoy the apples, cider, and donuts.  I’ve only been to this place on the busy crowded weekends, so I was looking forward to going on a sleepy weekday morning.
First order of business was donuts. Cider Mill donuts! The BEST kind! They were a dollar a piece, 5 dollars for half a dozen, or 7 dollars for a whole dozen. Do the math, what would you do?
We got our dozen donuts and headed for the little pond area where we were swarmed by bees. I really don’t like bees and am afraid of them. Actually, I’m afraid of being stung by them. Kelly seemed pretty casual about them, not making a big deal about it. I was trying to play it cool too, but I wanted to run for my life. “BEES! RUN!” Anyway, the donuts were the taste of heaven. They were warm and soft with an ever so slight crispy crunch on the outside. Ellie had half of one and I had the other half and three more.  I could have finished my half dozen there, but since Kelly only ate two, I was thinking maybe I should save a couple.
The one bummer about going to the Cider Mill during the week is you don’t get to watch the live polka band play while you eat. So we watched Evelyn and Ellie chase each other up and down the hill. This would guarantee a long nap later. Next stop, the petting farm.
Kelly bought a bag of animal feed so the girls could feed the animals. Evelyn loved feeding them, but Ellie, not so much. Ellie kept getting handfuls of the stuff and holding her hand toward the animal from a far distance. But when I tried to move her hand closer to the animal’s mouth she said, “NOooo!” Then she would give all of the feed to me, and then grab two more big handfuls and repeat. While Ellie did this, Evelyn just kept giggling while a big sloppy goat tongue slurped up the food out of her hands.
There was a goat and a llama in the same fenced off area which seemed to be a bad idea. Since the goat was shorter, more at kid level (like the sugar cereals at the grocery store), he got more food. Well, the llama finally had enough and got upset and felt the need to spit. And I got caught in the crossfire. We went to feed the horses instead.
We didn’t get apples, or apple cider, but we ate donuts, avoided being stung by bees, and got spit on by a llama. And we did this all before noon. Not a bad way to start the day.
Just remember,
“If it’s clear and yella, you got juice there fella,
If it’s tangy and brown, you’re in cider town!” – Ned Flanders
