There is nothing like months of cold days spent cooped up inside to drive a mama crazy. (I hope that isn’t too much honesty but there you have it.) I know many moms whose kids are in school 5 days a week who say they go batty from the kids being stuck inside all winter. Imagine having your kids home with you all day! Don’t get me wrong. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to teach my kids at home and stay home with them almost full time.  Still, I get a little nuts sometimes.

Last week our indoor days were broken with a lovely trip to  the orchard. I know, really, who goes to the orchard in the middle of winter? My kids and I had the opportunity to check out Linvilla Orchard with some other mom bloggers.

The afternoon started out with pizza and some of their apple cider. If you haven’t had Linvilla Orchard’s  fresh pressed apple cider, you now have an idea that you are missing something. If you are local you MUST have their apple cider. While we enjoyed the pizza and apple cider they told us about the orchard and their efforts to become more green.  From rain cisterns built into the ground that collect rain water off their greenhouse roof for watering the orchards to water being heated under ground using thermal heat from the earth and moving toward using solar panels, they continue to make strides in their efforts to become more green.

Another effort Linvilla Orchard makes in the effort to becoming more green is turned into family fun. For a few more weeks you can check out the Christmas Tree Maze at Linvilla. Well worth $5 a ticket you are sure to have fun with your family as you work together to get from start to finish on the Christmas Tree Maze, made up of over  1400 trees, collected from fire departments, the Boy Scouts, and various other places.  I am generally quite claustrophobic but I had so much fun with my kids. My boys of course ended up way ahead of us and had to “rescue” us. I still hear about that!

We also had a chance to play Linvilla’s 18 hole miniature golf course – Fore! The Planet.  It is great for winter fun as it is housed inside the greenhouse and is open until March 31. My kids had so much fun playing “golf” and I had so much fun watching them. So they didn’t quite get all the rules, but hey, it was all fun. Each hole features neat nature or environmental facts  the life stage of a butterfly and recycling were my favorites. We had fun and learned how our actions impact the environment at the same time. Tickets are 6.95 for 11+ and $4.95 – 10 and under.

After these fun games we took some animal feed and trekked out to visit the animals. The kids loved feeding the goats, “ostriches” (Really, they were emus. I have ridden an ostrich. They are MUCH bigger.), chickens, ducks, and swans.  we also checked out the pig, horses and their newest creature, the donkettes. I thought the goats with their weird eyes were kind of cool and really, you don’t see donkettes or emus every day. My kids of course can’t be wow’ed by the “not seen in our neighborhood all the time” creatures and loved the chickens. REALLY! The chickens. You know, just like my neighbors chickens that run around my back yard every summer.  Whatever!

Our last kid stop was the playground, at $1 per kid, it is so worth it. This is not your average playground but has trains, ships, castles, and a climbing castles, along with the traditional slide. It was fun to watch my kids play conductor, captain, and knights guarding the their castle. They could have played for hours.

Finally, you can’t leave Linvilla Orchard without a stop in the store.  The coupons for a FREE cookie we received were the icing on the cake, er, um, the perfect ending to the day. With about 12 choices, my kids chose Oreo Chunk, Candy Bits, and S’More. I chose 6 apple cider donuts to share with my husband. NOTE: kids did NOT get these ones. After all, they DID have cookies. We also picked up 1/2 gallon of their fresh pressed apple cider.  I really should have purchased a whole gallon. It was nowhere near enough.  While there, you know me, always a deal hunter, we took advantage of Linvilla’s AWESOME winter produce sale – 50% off all produce. We walked out of there with 2 bags of produce for $20. Their prices were equivalent to the prices you get at “discount”  produce stores around here but were displayed attractively and in excellent shape. I highly recommend buying your produce there if you live nearby. They will have the produce 50% off through March 31.

Linvilla Orchard also offers birthday parties and classes so be sure to check them out.

Also don’t forget to check out their in season fruit picking, fishing derbies, and festivals.

No matter if it is is summer or winter, there is great  (frugal) family fun to be had at Linvilla Orchard.

Please note: I was not compensated for my review. Linvilla Orchard offered a free afternoon to my family and me, along with some other bloggers. However, all opinions are my own.