Pumpkin Patch

Today was such a fun adventure. Ben and I took the kids to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm to visit the pumpkin patch. We spent a couple of hours there and had a blast. The weather was warmer than I was expecting so we all tired out quicker than expected, but had a blast while there. Before entering the pumpkin patch they have some goats, chickens, pigs, and other animals for the kids to feed hay to. The kids really enjoyed looking at the animals but had no interest in touching them (thank goodness). Next we went through the maze and we let Heidi lead the way. We did go around in circles at one point but finally found our way out.

For days now Heidi has been asking to go to the pumpkin patch so she could go on a hayride. So as soon as entered the actual pumpkin patch the first thing we did was head over to the hayride and a little girl had a big big smile on her face the entire ride. Noah had a great time on the ride too, but had trouble sitting still. He wanted to get up and walk around that ride. Half way through the hayride is a play place, so we got off and let the kids play for a while. They were able to climb the big hay stack, play bean bag toss, play tetherball, climb on the play scape, and run around in all the excitement. After all that play, we jumped back on the hayride and rode back to the front of the pumpkin patch.

We did some more playing, ate lunch, and then finally made our way to the big pile of pumpkins. Noah went crazy. He was so excited to play with the pumpkins. The pile was about 6 feet tall and he had no problem climbing up to the top and climbing all around all the pumpkins. His big sister followed him, but he was definitely the leader in this game. I'm pretty sure Noah was in Heaven with all those pumpkins surrounding him. He kept yelling "pumpan" and smiling big. Once we took lots of pictures and picked out our family pumpkin we let Heidi go pick a small pumpkin to paint. Inside a barn they have tables set up with lots of trays of paint. Heidi worked on her pumpkin very seriously while Noah tried to carry all the small pumpkins in the entire patch. He filled his arms with 3 or 4 pumpkins and said, "more more". The boy likes his pumpkins. Ben let him pick out one small pumpkin to take home. Since being home he has not let go of the pumpkin and keeps yelling, "pumpan".

Both kids had a great time at this year's trip to the pumpkin patch. I love having a family tradition and am already looking forward to the next visit.