Third anniversery of the pumpkin patch!

Three years ago, I did some searching for a pumpkin patch. I found a list of local ones somewhere (I don't recall where?), and read up on all of them. If they didn't have a website...they were immediately tossed out. :-P (Let that be a lesson to you if you run a pumpkin patch...or any business really!)

I found Walter's Pumpkin Patch, and we went. We had a blast, but b/c of nap time didn't stay but for a couple hours. The next year, we took some friends...and ended up going late again. THIS year, we got there about 11:00ish, and stayed nearly ALL DAY!

They have picture opportunities EVERYWHERE!
We took a family pic for another family,
and they returned the favor!

William is back there holding up Peter...

They have a decent playground there. The kids loved it. Peter loved swinging! And Rebekah loved climbing up this for thing and sliding down!

Seesaw - all 3 of 'em were laughing!

We attempted the corn maize - which turned out to be pretty muddy. But on our way in Peter snatched the map (in his hand) and started "telling" us where to go.

Climbing Tire Mountain...

Peter loved the tricycles...we had a tough time getting him off.

Peek-a-boo!

For the last two years, William missed the pumpkin cannon. He has really wanted to see it. It didn't end up being any one's fault...just we were there such a short amount of time we didn't get too. This year he FINALLY got to see it. He was pretty giddy with joy...and there was a fella next to him whom I think we just as eager!

The cannon...it fires every hour.

Elation of seeing the cannon.
(Rebekah was told to smile...lol)

They have a train that goes around the patch.

So Peter was pretty excited to ride the train. We had to convince Rebekah to go...and I wanted William to ride with them. He refused. The train started off...and Peter's excitement turned to fear and the screaming started. They went a little ways, and stopped. William went to get Peter...and that was all she wrote. Rebekah stayed on the train, and had a great time.

For the rest of the time there...I kept hearing "Isn't he the little boy that the train had to stop for?" Umm...yeah. Hard to miss him I guess?

If William had listened to me and ridden, I'm sure he would have been fine. Why didn't I go you ask? Well - the driver, although a very nice man I'm sure creeped me out a little. I just didn't want to ride with him. Oh well...

They had an area that was filled completely with corn.
(Best shot - William's finger...)

These are complete strangers...but the Midwest
version of burying in the sand I guess?

The slide was a huge hit!
We had to drag the kids away!

All 3 of them! ;-)

Bouncing on the "pillow"
(Notice her hair!)

Rebekah tackling me!

Peter LOVED the jumping pillow, as did Rebekah. However, at the end he bounced pretty good and ended up biting his tongue. It was bleeding pretty good and not happy. As soon as we started putting on shoes though, he was suddenly better and then mad that we weren't jumping anymore! :-P Some people are simply not happy!

We then took the hayride down to the pumpkin patch. It was then that I discovered my camera card was full...so I spent the trip frantically deleting pictures! :-P

The crop this year was on the sad side. Normally we get one for Rebekah (and Peter - ya know, since he was big enough this year!) and one "family" carving one. However, the crop was so sad this year we just got one. We had a tough time finding one - and it normally isn't like that.

We think maybe they just got too much rain? As you can see in the picture below - everything looked pretty brown. I'll have to dig up a picture from last year, so you can see the difference...

One thing they did appear to have a lot of was caterpillars!
(It is in the middle there...)

Looking for...pumpkins?

False alarm - another caterpillar!

Rebekah actually was looking for a "Rebekah sized" pumpkin.
While last year she specifically wanted a green one,
this year she wanted an orange one.

On the ride back!

After we paid for our pumpkin, we all got a little treat. Pumpkin cookies for the kids and pumpkin bread for us adults! Yummo! It was all very good! (We also ate lunch there - I don't recommend that...their food wasn't that great and highly over priced. Next year we will be packing a lunch!)

We ended up staying until about 4:00 PM. Peter had a bit of a nap on the way out, but Rebekah had no nap at all. Both kids were exhausted at the end of the day. Shortly after I took this (about 30 seconds!) both kids were out for the count. And so was Mama! :-)

We really enjoyed being able to spend some more time there this year. The ONLY problems we had were that it was entirely too crowded (apparently the good word has gotten out?) AND we were really disappointed in the pumpkin selection. At least we had fun though! And of course we will go again next year...as it is becoming a family tradition!