It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Fall.  Autumn, if you want to sound a little more poetic.  It's my favorite time of year. Unless you count spring.

This weekend, we fueled up at Krispy Kreme, and headed back in time at the zoo.  They hold their annual Harvest Days on the little farm at Grassmere on the zoo grounds, and the weather was perfection for doing some butter churning, wool carding, and skunk petting.

First up, though, was the carousel.

This baby hippo was Sarah's ride.

This mama hippo was Will's ride.

Yeehaw!

We killed a little time before the festivities by inspecting the elephant skull.  Again.

Paging Drs. Bones and Mandible.

Finally, we hit the Grassmere grounds running.  They played with old-timey toys like Jacob's ladder and the ball-in-the-cup thing.  Will, of course, found a way to turn a toy into a weapon.

Next up was butter churning.  Well, not actually churning.  They put some whipping cream in a baby food jar and Sarah and I shook it.

And shook it.

Until we got our very own little dollop of butter.  Even I was impressed!

Checkers

Watch out, Bobby Fisher.

I herded my friends back over for some dinotrope-making.  That's not actually what this spinny thing that produces an optical illusion is called, but I forgot the name of it and made up my own.

Deep in coloring concentration

Testing out the goods

The musical instruments were a hit with my little man, strengthening my worst fears that he will become a percussionist while still living under our roof.

See-saw time!

The baryard was fascinating.  Big sigh of relief, since nobody got his head stuck in the fence.  We kept the butter handy, just in case.

Clydesdale

Dirty sheep

Things started to go south for Will at this point.  He went off into the trees a couple of times to work through some issues while Sis and I took pictures and made masterpieces.

Pumpkin potato stamp

Candle-making was the hit of the day.  Since nobody came away with any third-degree burns, I think we might be able to try this at home.

Skunk-petting was a close second for favorite activity.

Junior zoo keeper

Will took the opportunity at this juncture to roam the woods a little more and throw a tantrum.  Again.  So, he was even more upset that he missed out on petting the skunk.

Which, incidentally, I heard about the entire way home.

Good thing we don't live far.

What you don't see is Sarah striking up a discussion with a Civil War reenactor about the many flags of the Confederacy, while Will tried to snag an Oreo from a flute player on lunch break.  I think Sarah is going to end up a history buff like her Papa.  Will is well on his way to becoming a human garbage can like his 5 uncles.

All in all, this was such a fun day.  We'll be back, Grassmere.  In the meantime, we're coming for you, Traveler's Rest and the Hermitage.