farm day!

every fall, the kids cannot wait to pick out pumpkins. i have this thing with pumpkin patches set up in parking lots in the middle of town, so instead, we drive a really long way to another state to get the whole farm experience. :)


last week, we loaded up after lunch, put on a new jonathan park audio adventure... and before we knew it, we were at aplin farms! we arrived without any potty stops along the way! that is what i call a successful trip!


this year, we were happy to join our homeschool group at the farm. i loved watching these sweet kiddos play tag before the field trip began.


our group loaded up on the wagon and we were on our way to the pumpkin field!


everybody was excited to be back at the farm!!!


the kids ran to pick out the perfect pumpkin....


and as soon as i got hallie girl strapped in her stroller, i turned around and saw my lightning fast pumpkin pickers!




in that moment of mom-papparazzi spazziness, i left hallie where she was. (safely buckled in, mind you.) can you see her way back there?


oh don't feel too sorry for her... we let her join in the fun a few moments later! the big kids picked out hallie's first pumpkin for her.


after snapping away, i realized that it would look better if caroline picked up her pumpkin... well, hallie tried to do the same and would not look up.


i told the big kids to look down at hallie for the next picture... and of course, she looked up.


i still love the way hallie's big siblings are looking at her so adoringly! they do adore her.

and look! i actually jumped in a picture!


after the obligatory group picture, i let hallie explore a little... and she was set on messing with this rotten pumpkin. shooooey, that pumpkin was stinky!!


i finally got her away from the nasty rotten pumpkin, and she then proceeded to try to sit on her pumpkin. no success right away... look at that face!


she did manage to sit on the pumpkin. guess she needed a moment to contemplate the field of pumpkins...



and THERE'S a smile from my girl! she is loving finding a seat anywhere she can these days.


after taking a gazillion pictures of hallie sitting on that pumpkin, we headed over to the field full of gorgeous sunflowers!


i found these cute kids in the middle of the field! i think i'll pick them. :)


caroline was so proud of the tooth she lost that morning!


we loaded back up with hands full of flowers and pumpkins and faces full of smiles!


hallie had fun on her first wagon/hayride! kelly was so happy to help with hallie, and i was so happy that hallie was happy. :)


as we were bouncin' along with sunflowers in hand, i reminded the kids that sunflowers are a composite flower that we studied in botany last year. here they are concentrating to look at all the little flowers in the middle of the big flower! love my little botanists!!


while the kids did fun farm activities, hallie chilled with the chickens.


look! homeschoolers standing in line!


"milking" a cow... always a farm favorite.



seems like just yesterday that i could not pull this girl away from milking the wooden cow.


next was the visit to the barn to see real animals not made of wood!





the sun was getting lower...


but we still had time for the corn maze.


ethan was a little excited.


my friend jennifer pushed the stroller so i could take random pictures of cornstalks...


"hmmm.... which way should we go?!"


that way!


we pretty much walked in a few circles and then came out the opening 20 minutes later. but the kids had fun and we didn't lose anybody!


we squeezed in one last activity... duck races!



it's not a trip to the farm without snapshots of the odd, bumpy pumpkins.



aaaand a picture in the truck cut out is pretty much a given, too.


they took down our little photo-op spot, so we settled for a very posed picture in front of the slightly freaky pumpkin hay bale thing.


the moon was fighting its way into the sky, so i knew we needed to start our drive home.




our drive home from the country was beautiful and uneventful. we got home just in time for the kids to scrub off the farm fun and hop into bed. i'm so thankful for another great day at the farm. every time i see our pumpkins on our front porch, i remember the sweet smiles and sweet memories made... and it was worth every minute of that long, country drive.