Lone Pine Farms

Following the camping trip, we knew that we'd be "home base" for Traig between the times he'd need to be dropped off an picked up for his M-Th camp at Harlow.  What we didn't expect was Nati and Ellie to request to stay with us as well.  It was fine with me, though.  I hear that they'll be around and I think - "Perfect, that keeps my kids happy, and is a few more hands and sets of eyes to help out with and entertain Whitley".  Their mom and dad agreed, so we had a full house for the week.

On Wednesday, I needed to head out to Lone Pine Farms as they had 10 ears of their "Bodacious" brand of corn for $2 - not a big deal if you are just feeding our family, but a significant deal if you are buying corn for 30 dinner guests.  In hindsight, because of the additional produce we bought as well as double scoop ice creams for the girls, it would have been much cheaper to get it for whatever price at the nearest Safeway! 

Mikayla barely remembered this place, and Nati and Ellie had never been here.  They ran first to the goat pen and scooped up spilled food from the dispensers to feed the goats (I didn't have any quarters to buy any).  While the girls LOVED the experience, Whitley was scared....when one of the goats "beyed" loudly, she lost it. 

As evidenced by this picture which received more "Likes" on Instagram than nearly any other post I've put up.  Kind of mean, don't you think?  For the record, she was doing fine in my arms until this pic was snapped....and then she kind of snapped....

So, we kept her at a nice safe distance where she spent time scooting about and "telling off" the bad ol' goats with her own little language.

Mikayla ventured closer with her a little later - still keeping a safe distance. 

She was okay with the sheep. 

In an effort to make up with her, I let her try a bite of Mikayla's chocolate chip mint ice cream.  She was a fan.  I knew that that girl couldn't just "blanket hate" sweets....she just had to try the right kind!  (And, she also likes my Oatmeal Raisin cookies).  However, I don't do a lot of testing, and when I do it's just a bit, I think it's a beautiful thing indeed that her taste pallet isn't nearly as corrupted as my children's were at that age. 

On our way out, Ellie got a picture of her on the tractor. 

As a point of evidence for just how much the girls loved the experience, they begged to return to Lone Pine on Saturday (even over going to see a movie).  We called to see if Whitley wanted to join us, but she didn't seem interested!  ;)

Here's a few pics of the other part of this great place - the indoor produce market.  We were trying to be pretty liberal in letting the girls pick out what they wanted, in an effort to promote better eating choices.  Can't go wrong with any of this stuff.

They also have a "Cut Your Own Flowers" area that I spotted and figured would be a cute place for pics.  Nati snapped this one and then Michele copy-catted.  =)

As fun as this place is in the summer (it also has a playground), it really hits its peak in the fall with its annual corn maze and pumpkin patches.  I suspect this might be where we'll head to this year now that the girls have fallen in love with it.