We recently met the Winstead family at Cowtherines Carousel at Young’s Jersey Dairy.  I have written about Young’s Jersey Dairy before – it is one of our favorite outings.  We love the ice cream and they have a variety of family friendly activities.  When the weather is nice, it is a super busy place.

It was a good place to meet Steve, Amy, and Emma Winstead.  They live 45 minutes south of Young’s and we live an hour east of Young’s.  Plus, even in November, there were enough things going on to entertain a two-year-old.  I was especially excited about Cowtherines Carousel, which I like to call the cow-ousel.  Catherines Carousel was built in July and is another popular draw for Young’s Jersey Dairy.  We picked up John and Jackie and headed west.

Steve had already told Emma all about our outing.  She was excited about seeing the animals, riding the cow-ousel, and eating ice cream.  Emma loves cheese and ice cream – just like several other members of our family.  Emma (and I) wanted to start with Catherines Carousel.  Tickets were $10 for 4 but you don’t pay if you are holding a child on an animal.  John, Steve, Amy, Emma and I climbed on and selected our animals.  Tom and Jackie preferred to watch and Tom took some pictures.

I selected a cow (of course) and Emma and Amy chose the horse next to the cow.  Steve and John rode behind us.  The ride was exactly the right length.  It was very enjoyable and the animals went up and down to the delight of all of us.  I had not been on a carousel since I rode the Cedar Downs carousel at Cedar Point – at least 15 years ago.  I have never ridden a cow-ousel before!

After our ride, we went to the Big Red Barn for lunch.  I got chicken and dumplings, a seasonal special, and everyone else got a sandwich with fries or cheese curds.  The food was very good, as always.

Full from our yummy lunch, we headed out to see the animals.  You could feed the goats for a quarter, but I was the only one who had real money!  I was happy to shell out quarters to anyone who wanted them.  Emma and Jackie especially enjoyed feeding the goats.  Then we went into the barn to see the calves.  Jackie persuaded one of the calves to come up to be petted and Emma got a chance to pet him also.  Emma especially enjoyed climbing on the tractors on the playground.  There were some tractor tires and she was very good at hiding in them.

We headed back to Cowtherines Carousel for another ride.  This time Emma chose a pig and I stood next to her.  Steve and Amy enjoyed being seated on one of the cow-ousel benches.  The only way to persuade Emma to get off the cow-ousel was to get some ice cream.  She chose cotton candy, which was a bright blue.  I don’t know if she chose that because of the color or the flavor.  Tom got peanut butter ice cream, a change from his usual vanilla.  I got caramel chocolate toffee.  The sandwiches might be good, but the ice cream is excellent.

Emma was getting tired, so we decided to head to our respective homes.  The outing had been fun and long enough to enjoy each other.  No sense in pushing the good behavior of a two-year-old.  After we left, Steve let us know that they went on the cow-ousel one more time before leaving.  Definitely the highlight of the day.

Young’s Jersey Dairy is a fun place to visit, even in the middle of November.  Although there weren’t as many things to do as there are in the summer, there also weren’t as many people.  The day was warm enough to enjoy the outside stuff as well as cool enough to enjoy being inside.  We will meet the Winsteads there any time they want to go.