Anderson Farms

Today we loaded up the kiddos and made the hour long trek to Anderson Farms- a pumpkin patch north of us.

The girls have been so excited to go! They have been counting down the days. There was a great disappointment, however, because we originally intended to go last Friday. Unfortunately, the weather interfered with our plans. We let the girls choose whether they wanted to go in the rain, or wait a few extra days to go when the weather warmed up. As anybody with children knows, it is really hard for kids to postpone something they are greatly looking forward to. I was very proud of them for choosing to wait.

It paid off- the weather today was perfect. If anything, it was a little too hot.

Get ready for a bajillion pictures...

They had some go-karts which was a blast:

 Barrel rides:

 As you can tell by her expression, Camille really enjoyed the rides. It was super cute, too, because her little head didn't quite pop up above the barrel:

 This is how a picture with Camille looks:

 And without:

 We went in a corn maze. They had a "mystery" for the kids to figure out. There were different stations with pictures which showed a weapon, suspect, and place (like Clue). You crossed off what is in the picture until you narrow down who it was.

 Here's the duck races. Claire took this race VERY seriously.

 Then, we made our way to the pumpkin patch. We have actually never taken our kids to a pumpkin patch to pick out their own pumpkins. It was really cool.

 We told them they had to pick out a pumpkin that they could carry. It worked out well.

 Ben picked out what he thought was the perfect pumpkin for Camille. He put it down right in front of her and said, "Look, Camille- isn't this pumpkin perfect?" She said, "No!" So, he would move the pumpkin over a few feet and say, "Look, Camille- isn't this pumpkin perfect?"

I call this next picture, "The Negotiation:"

 The pumpkin she is holding is NOT the one Ben picked out for her.

This next picture I have dubbed, "The Result:"

 Camille won the round.

 Claire started out by pulling the wagon, but quickly realized it was much better to be pulled by the wagon!

It really was a great day. However, we learned a few things:

Next time I think we should leave a little later in the day. Pack a lunch, and eat it when we get to the farm around noon instead of getting there right when it opens at 10.

There were a lot of school kids there, but by 1 they had pretty much all left. By the time we left at 3, the farm was completely empty. It would have been nice to stay later. If we arrived later in the day, we could stay later.

We can then leave when it closes at 6, stop for dinner on the way home. We would still miss traffic.

Definitely a good day...even if we are EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!