If you were there, you know

If you weren’t, you’ll want to be next time

We began the day meeting at Teusink’s Pony Farm in Holland, on a perfectly fall-feeling day, with a temperature in the forties, a strong breeze, and a mix of sun and clouds. Several confirmed attendees stayed home because it was raining where they lived, but it did not rain in Holland until late in the evening. Take that Jenison!

Goats are hungry. Ducks too.

We met at the pay shack, paid our entrance fees (kids cost more than adults!), paid for a few bags of goat feed, and proceeded to feed goats and ducks.

Leah gets her wristband from Rachel

Max and Mama Flory point out the craziness of the goats

Jacqui and Claire wonder when they’ll get a turn at the goats

Much gathering was required (apparently?) before feeding the animals

Aly immediately found friends among the goats

She’s gotten a bit used to this kind of thing from so many trips to Teusink’s, Critter Barn, and Post

Leah needed reassurance for a minute before approaching the beady-eyed goats

but then she got into it

and they didn’t even steal the bag out of her hand. This time.

Aly doing some sort of lording-over thing at the ducks

Max, a city boy, took some time warming up to the animals. He quickly figured out that he could throw the food over the goats and cause pandemonium among the ducks. Smart boy.

Grandpa Bill playing his usual role documenting the activities of the day.

Leah still enjoying herself feeding the goats.

At this point, the Simmons clan arrived at their promised 30-minutes late point in time, but were greeted with a hearty welcome by all. Jacqui began a verbal harassment of Louis for having a Starbucks coffee [foreshadowing] that would go on for the next 84 minutes or so. The Simmons children and their father wasted no time getting started on animal feeding.

Yes, there is a child behind Louis. He is not feeding the animals by himself.

At this point, we headed over to the pony ridin’ area for some pony ridin’ fun.

Brief interlude for an adorable picture of Jax and Claire

Jax and Max make their way to the ponies. Surely a boy of Max’s age is very very excited to ride a pony!

She’s awfully photogenic, isn’t she?

The great thing is, she’s super happy and friendly, too. She’s smiley and coos at most everyone, even in the freezing breeze.

Pony Rides

Anticipation I

Anticipation II

Ruh roh! Louis, I think you’re being corrected by Courtney!

Leah’s first pony ride…

…and I think she likes it!

Um, remember that whole “Max must be excited” bit? Yeah, well, about that….

Aly enjoyed her turn on the pony

See? Told you Lele liked it

Tatum is one child that has no problem expressing her joy..

…more joy…

..overwhelming joy…

…pure, unadulterated joy.

It’s clear where the joy in the Simmons kids is rooted

Clarke showed the same joy as her sister while riding the pony

Simmons + Pony = Joy

On to the barn

and relief from the wind. At this point, Claire was a bit cold, and perhaps so were some of the adults, if not willing to admit it. We were also joined at this point by Matt and Kate, a great addition to our mix. The barn at Teusink’s has a hay maze, a lazy cow in a pen who won’t so much look up at visitors, baby chicks and bunnies in buckets, and several animals in low pens. Our kids were all running in and out of the hay maze and holding bunnies and chicks for a good half hour. There was an awesome pig in one of the pens with tons of personality who would stand up above the rail and grunt to get his ears scratched, getting big laughs from all of us.

Aly “holds” a chick

Courtney offers a bunny to Leah

Leah is all like “Uh, I don’t know about this”

Courtney gets down to the girls’ level to offer the bunny one final time before sneaking it into her inside jacket pocket and taking it home

Leah directs her Grandparents towards the hayride staging area

continued steering of Grandparents. Amazing power that these wee people wield

Hey! Ridin’

We left the barn to queue up for the hayride, which we figured should be coming back ’round in a few minutes. There was no one riding the ponies, so a few people snuck off to grab another pony ride while we waited and Max entertained me by trying his best to tip over the stairs that they use to load people onto the hay wagon. A few minutes later, the wagon returned, unloaded its passengers, and we boarded.

This little guy appeared at my feet out of the hay shortly after we sat down. Baby bunnies!

He spent much of the hayride snuggling up to Kate, who was seated next to me. He visited the kid seated across from us a few times, and Leah got to pet him a few times as well.

Grandma Jan sat in the “falling off” seat at the back of the wagon

Everybody loved the hayride, which lasted about 20 minutes, much longer than most of us were expecting, even those of us who had been there before

Louis shoots pictures of his kids, who were at the front of the wagon, which was overrun with baby bunnies

Perhaps the picture of the day. Random girl holding Louis’ Starbucks cup so he can deal with his camera. I did not realize this when I took the picture, but only when I was editing the pictures. Louis, when presented with the picture later, claims that the cup must have fallen from his pocket, but attempts to find the girl and confirm the story have thus far proven ineffective

One of the few pictures of Max where he did not block his face like a celebrity avoiding the paparazzi

Back to the Goudie house

A few stayed back at Teusink’s to get in a few last thrills, but most of us headed back to our house for pizza, laughs, and crazy kid fun, indoors and out. We spent the afternoon and into the evening eating, drinking, gaming, bouncing, scootering, running, screaming, laughing, talking, and well, pretty much everythinging fun that we could think of. We were joined by Jef and Jennifer once they arose for the day, and they added to the festive atmosphere with their Spartan and Aggie gear.

The kids made use of toys in Leah’s room, Aly’s room, the living room, the basement playroom, the trampoline out back, and all manner of outside toys.

Proud Grandma Linda smiles at Baby Claire

Jax & Claire (hidden behind Leah’s head) make eyes at each other

Courtney borrows the adorable Claire to remind Louis of her baby handling prowess

Grandma Jan enjoying the gathering

Louis checking in on Tatum using the iPad

Earlier, all four girls were gathered around the iPad at the same time, it was pretty funny. Then, a few minutes later, Leah and Tatum were watching something on the iPad scrunched up side by side, and then Clarke disappeared to go play downstairs. When Leah emerged from the iPad stupor a few minutes later, she looked around and said “Where did my friend go?” It was adorable.

Aly and Max played a game of Apples to Apples downstairs with Jacqui, though I had to step in for the last few rounds when Claire made a loud call for her mother. Max made frequent use of the “redo” rule when it was his turn to judge. At the end of the game, Max pointed out that I was terrible at Apples to Apples, although I had won one of the three hands I had played, and of course I had judged one of those three, meaning I was one for two. Oh, by the  way, Aly won.

Foreground: drinks
Background: Claire

Tatum had a great time riding the tricycle and loved it when I helped her ring the bell

I had a loaner Canon 1Dx camera for the weekend, and it does some truly amazing things. Like get pictures of Max smiling while actually looking at the camera.

I put the sidewalk chalk out and came out later to find that most of the driveway had been decorated, and quite well. Each of the kids had drawn their house. As the Simmons family headed out, the kids pointed out to Louis that the picture of their house was missing their great dane, so Louis quickly added this to the living room on the lower level:

Louis is a talented graphic artist – who knew? As Jacqui says, Louis is like an onion.

All in all, we had a great Saturday, both adults and kids.