Sunday, October 12, 2014

pumpkin patches 2 & 3...& apple festival!

Last week we went to a pumpkin patch with a few of our friends. It was the perfect playgroup activity and the kids were never bored. We went to a place called Greensbridge- one of our favorite local farms. They have all pumpkins (20 lbs. or less) for a dollar. Doesn't get better than that!

The littles wore themselves out by playing in the "wheat box", doing the mini-haymaze, climbing more haybales, sliding down the pipe, racing rubber duckies, and petting the animals. It was sort of a long walk to the actual pumpkin patch but thankfully I didn't feel sore until AFTER we were home :)

Once again, it was all FREE except for the cost of the pumpkins. Yay!







On our way out I also bought some sweet corn for super cheap and cold juice boxes for my sweaty, dirty kids. They couldn't stop talking about all the fun they had on the ride home. I love fall for this very reason- there is never-ending fun to be had everywhere you go!

Even walking to the mailbox is a thrill these days. We collect acorns and pet the horses next door. It is pure joy:)


The next day (Friday) we went to Bauman's Pumpkin Patch. We've never been here before but everyone says it is a must around here. To be honest I wasn't impressed with the over-commercialized aspect of it...and its size alone was overwhelming- kinda like a carnival. But there certainly WAS a lot going on and many things were free. (The things that were NOT free, however, and an absurd amount of money received well-understood tantrums from our children.) We paid a fee of admission to get in and were able to to some fun stuff like a hayride to the pumpkin patch and back, playground thingies, and apple cider tasting. 







Towards the end as we were leaving, we saw the bumble-bee ride and I was (sort of) willing to pay for this extra thing. The driver went super fast and I knew the kids would love it. Well, since they were closing in the next 20 minutes the guy let the kids ride for free! I had a feeling to have Jonathan ride with C on his lap and I'm so glad he did...because they really went FAST. And out of sight, which would have scared me to death. haha. 


In the pumpkin patch we took some (yes, MORE) pictures. I always say that I take more pictures of the kids in the month of October than any other month...I just love everything about fall. Everything. So I apologize for the picture overload, but I'm not that sorry because I think they're kinda adorable :)


Getting these two to actually look at me and smile...well, obviously they were more interested in talking to each other. ;)


 But Talmage knows how to work it when it's just he and I. This dude cracks me up.




And Charlotte. She's learning :)

















 We had a ton of fun here, despite the huge crowds of people and looming ATMS at every corner. :)

You'd think two pumpkin patches two days in a row would be enough...buuuuut a friend told me about this Apple Tasting Festival the next day and it just sounded so interesting. I convinced Jonathan that we should go since 1. It was all free. 2. Who knows how many times we'll have to go places as a family of four before baby comes? and 3. We all get to eat apples and apples are healthy, right?

The Apple Festival was just the best. There weren't too many people, it was a beautiful day, and there was so much for the kids to enjoy. It was a really neat experience to try so many different kinds of apples too- most of them I've never heard of. I don't think I can go back to the "grocery store apple species" again. These samples were delicious and so, so different.



We love the movie "Nightmare before Christmas" so Talmage was super excited to see Jack the Pumpkin King :)



On our way out we watched the cider press in action and tasted some of their cider. The one sip I had tasted AMAZING- tart and fresh. I say one sip because then I realized I couldn't have unpasteurized juice while pregnant. Oops. 

We will definitely be making the Apple Festival a family tradition. I love living in Oregon because it seems like there's always fun events like this going on not too far from us.

What a weekend! If only this week was nice and relaxing...it seems like everyday there's things going on. I pray I don't go out of my mind...at the same time I kinda love being busy because it makes the time pass more quickly! We are ready to meet baby! :)


1 comment:

The Leders said...

I love this post and pictures!!! I have been there to Bauman Farms many times - we love it! Oregon in the fall is so much more festive than Florida! With 90 degrees every day it's hard to feel the true season but we are trying however we can! Your family is so cute!!!!