Last weekend we had all four kids and decided to take a trip to a pumpkin patch. And when I say "we decided" I really mean that I did. I'm 99% sure that I was the only one excited about going. But I'd seen lots of pictures posted by friends of their trips there and it really looked like something Katie Wynn would enjoy. I made the whole family go, though, because - like every other mom on Facebook - I wanted to take fall family pictures in the pumpkins. (Spoiler alert: that didn't really happen.) Besides, what else were we going to do on a Saturday morning?
This was one of those rare occasions when it would've been nice to own a minivan since all six of us doing fit in either of our cars. The boys climbed into Matt's car and I took the girls and we followed each other on the 50 minute trip to Cedar Hill Farm.
The trip seemed to go on forever but we eventually pulled up the farm and I immediately realized that I'd totally underestimated this place. I thought it'd be a big yard of pumpkins and we'd be in and out in thirty minutes. Oh no, it's so much more than that. We weaved our way through the farmland parking lot, following the attendants' directions and as we did, I watched family after family climb out of their cars and unload their strollers. That's when it hit me....
Stroller. Oh crap. I didn't pack our stroller!
I kid you not, I looked down at the scarf I was wearing and debated whether it'd be sturdy enough or not to hold Thomas like in a sling. Anna said her backpack was in the back of Matt's car and putting him in it started sounding like a really good idea.
As we parked, Matt and I discussed options - carry him in his carseat which would make him much heavier but at least we could sit him down, or take him out of the carseat and just carry him but he'd always have to be in someone's arms. We chose option number one - leave him in the carseat.
We lugged him up the mile-long walk to pay admission and, after getting our receipt, we heard the sweetest voice ask us the best question ever. "Would y'all like a wagon to pull him in?"
Heck yeah we would!!
The wagon totally saved the day. It would've been miserable having to carry him around but the wagon was big enough for him, the diaper bag, and Katie Wynn when she wanted to ride. Plus, there were lots of dusty and muddy spots that we weren't having to push our own stroller through. Poor planning for the win!
The first thing we laid eyes on when we walked in was this enormous set of pipe slides. How cool are they?! After Katie Wynn's first time down with her Dad, she wanted to do it again and again and again!
There were also some tire swings that everyone took a ride on.
Wyatt was the only one that gave the zipline a try.
I never passed my camera off to someone to take a group picture of us, so our family pumpkin patch picture turned into one of Matt and the kids on the tower of hay.
While the big kids stood in line for Italian ice, Katie Wynn found a pile of rocks to play in.
This is how it goes these days when trying to get a picture with both kids. It's just not happening.
All four kids stood against the giant ruler so we could get their heights. Hopefully we'll be able to go back next year for comparison photos.
The next area we visited was the petting zoo. It started with a chicken show and then Katie Wynn was a little overwhelmed by all the animals.
She spotted the pigs and said "oink, oink!"
She loved watching the animals eat the feed we bought, but was too scared to feed it to them herself. My hands were pretty gross by the time we were through!
We spotted a couple thieves!
We walked up right as a pig race was about to begin so we lined the fence so we could watch. We got to see three races and the white pigs that we were rooting on won once!
Probably the biggest downer of the day was our lunch. It tasted fine, but it took over an hour for us to get it! Next time we will definitely bring a cooler of our own and have a picnic.
After lunch we were all pretty tired but I said we couldn't leave without at least seeing the pumpkin patch. I mean, that's why we came, right?! We turned in our wagon and hopped on the hay ride to go out to see the pumpkins.
We had no intentions of actually buying a pumpkin since we really didn't have any extra arms to carry it, so we didn't go very deep into the patch. Most of the pumpkins were really big and made nice seats for a certain little girl!
Thomas was unimpressed. Pumpkin shmumpkin.
Our last stop of the day was at the corn maze.
Matt and the big kids went in alone and raced to see how fast they could do it.
They made it out in one minute, 58 seconds and rumor has it there was some shoving by a certain 40-year-old so he could cross the finish line first...
Katie bug played on a fence while they were in the corn (and Thomas slept).
My "thirty-minute trip to the pumpkin patch" had already turned into a 3 hour adventure and we hadn't even done everything! We missed out on the train ride and paintball shooting and corn guns and who knows what else.
This little girl was bummed out when I told her it was time to go home.
But - lucky for her - I spotted this lot of Christmas trees on our way out so we may be returning to the farm in the near future for another visit! Next time, we'll be much more prepared. :)
