Feels Like Fall!

Last Wednesday we went to the Pumpkin Patch. I know I'm a week late getting this up - life has been busy and crazy and so I'm cutting myself some slack! Yes, I'm still pregnant - no baby yet, although she does give me a lot of reasons to believe she is coming soon (mostly the contractions that seem to happen every night between midnight and 4am!)

This pumpkin patch is pretty far from us, but it was worth the drive! For these beach girls, visiting a working farm and pumpkin patch is quite the exotic experience! :-)



We did the pony rides first. We knew the girls would want to go more than once, and we were right!



As you can see, it was quite the hit!



Ginger loved it as much as Paprika. She is getting so grown up all of a sudden. She kept saying, "Look everyone! I'm a cowgirl!" as she was riding her pony.



Mr. M had the afternoon off work, so he was able to come with us which made it extra special.



They have this little wooden train there that the girls just love. Here's Paprika on the train this trip (2011):



Here is Paprika back in 2009 on the same wooden train...that's two years ago! Say it isn't so!



Ginger wanted to run and explore the tunnels and grounds (of course she did!):



They both climbed the hay bale mountain:



The girls rode in style while Mr. M did the heavy labor (can't you see why I'm so glad he came?!) ;-)



The train was as big of a hit as the pony rides were, so we had to ride the train a few times, too! One time they even got to be the conductors. Choo-Choo!



Paprika thought the corn maze was just about the coolest thing ever. She made a few trips through it and then intentionally got lost inside a few more:



Ginger did the corn maze once and had enough, then retired to the wagon and started snacking on the carrots we bought to feed the horses, cows, and sheep. Yum?:



The John Deere Combine turned slide made it really feel "down on the farm" - Paprika had a blast sliding. Ginger rode a bunch of times with Mr. M which was great until the last time down the slide, Mr. M almost scalped himself. I guess these things were made with kids in mind and not grown men over 6 feet tall. Ha!



Everyone had a great time in the bounce houses. Ginger, especially!



And we all had a great time visiting with the little animals in the petting zoo. All the goats had just had a bath that morning, so they were so soft and so sweet. This one wanted to play with Paprika and tried to head butt her across the pasture- but thankfully she could hold her own:



Ginger still says this goat is her "best friend" - she loved him so much it made me want to get a goat for her to take home:



So, a great time was had by all! Visiting this Pumpkin Patch has become a bit of a tradition for us, which I love. Last year we visited a different pumpkin patch, but the year before (2009), we visitied this one twice. It's so fun for me to look back on those visits and see how much bigger the girls are now. Here are the links to the old blog posts, if you want to stroll down memory lane with me:

Here's the first visit

Here's our second visit (also 2009)

I know the Pumpkin Festival is over for this year (boo hoo!), but I cannot wait to go back next year! It is truly one of the highlights of our Fall!