The Apple Barn in Abbotsford

After yesterday, it’s settled… The very best Mondays are Pro-D days.  Even better?  When you spend them outdoors soaking up the autumn sunshine! 

Yesterday morning, instead of powering through our usual school morning routine, Miss G and I packed up our things and headed out of the city to The Apple Barn – a family-run farm out in Abbotsford.

While I was teaching down in South Surrey, it was one of my absolute favourite places to take my little Kindergarten munchkins and I’m so glad I got to bring Miss G this time around.  We had an absolutely lovely, low-key morning and Grae was just thrilled with all of the activities The Apple Barn had to offer.  At the end of our visit when I asked her what she thought, she said, ‘I had no idea there was going to be SO MANY fun things to do here!’  Bless her… she was just thrilled with the prospect of getting to pick an apple or two.

Now honestly, my memory isn’t the best these days {I can totally blame mommy brain, right?}, but if it’s not failing me completely, I’m pretty sure the farm has undergone several really lovely upgrades in the last few years.  One of the things both Grae and I really enjoyed during our visit was the vibrant paintings scattered around the farm.  Not only were most all of them interactive in some way, but they also made for really fun photo opportunities too {and tell me which mama doesn’t love a good photo op! ☺}

Another standout favourite?  The animals {of course}!  My little animal lover adored the petting zoo area and especially loved petting and chatting with each of the rabbits in Bunny Town.  She was so sweet and gentle with each one, making sure that every bunny got some love and conversation.

After a good long visit with each of the animals, we decided that it was time to wander down to the corn maze.  What we weren’t expecting was all sorts of fun down on that side of the farm too!  More animals, horse-shaped tire swings, a corn family photo board, and another huge jump pillow {more to come on that in just a minute!}

Miss G and I had such a great time in the corn maze and what really made the experience was a fun little colour station scavenger hunt that takes place in the maze.  Basically, all you have to do is search for the colour stations as you make your way through the maze, and when you find one, use the chalk pad to colour one of your fingertips.  The goal is to find all five stations in order to colour each of the fingers on one hand, which Grae just thought was the best thing ever.

Alright, so the jump pillow…  Sort of like a trampoline, but much cooler.  Grae loved this thing and since we arrived in time for opening and the schools that were visiting seemed to head out to do other things first, she had the entire thing to herself for a long time.  Here she is in action…

After a ton of jumping, we made a pitstop at the playground and then headed down into the apple orchard.  Now unfortunately, with apple season being as early as it was/is this year, apple picking within the main part of the farm is actually already done for the season {though you can pick your own apples just down the road at another part of the farm and the country market has loads of pre-picked apples ready for purchase}.  The lack of apples didn’t stop us from wandering through the rows of trees and checking things out though.  {Grae really wanted to collect the fallen apples from the ground and take them home though.}

While I’ll admit it wasn’t the easiest thing to do with all of the school groups that were visiting {they get priority}, we eventually got lucky and jumped aboard a hayride for a tour of the farm.  It was a quick one, but it allowed us a sneak peek of the pumpkin patch down below, which was enough to convince Miss G that we needed to wander down after our ride was done.

While we decided to wait for a family trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out our carving pumpkins, Miss G carefully selected two mini pumpkins to take home for a project she had in mind…

And before we’d left the field, she had both pumpkins named – Rosealina and Harold {her two go-to names for just about everything that requires a name – mini pumpkins included}.

Before leaving the farm, we had one more spot to visit… The country market!  Miss G and I both had a lovely time wandering around and checking out all the fun things they had for sale and we ended up heading home with 10 pounds of apples, 5 pounds of pears, a big jug of their pure apple cider, and a bunch of funky little pumpkins and gourds too. Oh, and a flavoured honey stick for Miss G and an apple cider slushie for me… The perfect way to end a fun fall morning!

If you also live in the Vancouver area and haven’t visited The Apple Barn recently, I’d highly recommend it.  So much so in fact, that I contacted Taves Family Farms and asked if they’d be willing to give one lucky reader a family pass to visit this October!  Being the lovely people they are, they very happily agreed, so please enter using the Rafflecopter below if you’d like a chance to take your family the The Apple Barn {in Abbotsford, BC, Canada} during the month of October {2015}.  The family pass includes admission to the corn maze, jump pillow, petting zoo, tractor trail, slides, hipline, playground, farmville, and hayride for two adults and their children.  Also included is a round of apple cider slushies for the whole family!

Good luck!  I’ll draw a random winner at 12:00 a.m. PST on October 5th, so stay tuned.

a Rafflecopter giveaway