Pickin' Pumpkins

Kaileb said for his birthday he wanted to go to the pumpkin patch.  As a 6 year old is about as decisive as well...a 6 year old, he changed his mind and asked if maybe we could do the pumpkin patch on a weekend that was not his birthday.  

I think Nick loves the pumpkin patch as much as I do. We probably enjoy it as much as the kids.  It's just one of those past times that leads to even more great memories so we happily obliged his wish. We set out to Great Country Farms which is a little ways from us, but the beautiful drive through the fall painted countryside is more than worth the time spent trapped enjoying myself in the car with 4 children. 

A few times I wanted to ask Nick to pull over so I could take some pictures, but the roads didn't give much space to pull off safely.  Once we arrived the kids were excited to get started on all the great things the farm has to offer to visiting families.  They have a huge air pillow for kids to bounce on, animals to visit (Yes, Nick is in fact carrying a goat escapee back to it's pen), a dinosaur that eats pumpkins, a few different play areas, pig races,a rope maze, rope swings, and of course hay rides to the pumpkins. Not to forget the incredible view of the winery above.  We spent the entire day there until we were so chilled to the bone we couldn't wait to get back to the van. We didn't do the corn maze for the second year in a row. I think last year it was because Gavin was just a year and had just about enough of pumpkins for a day!

The kids each picked out a pumpkin and could only have it if they could carry it back to the wagon.  Hey, those pumpkins are charged by the pound!  We brought them home and carved them just a couple of days after we started having feeling in our fingertips again! The temperature here in Virginia has gone from nice and warm to quite chilly pretty quickly. 

I should also mention that the farm is free to military members and their families for days like the day we went. We only had to pay for the items from the store and the pumpkins!