The Pumpkin Patch

Today was our annual pumpkin patch trip. There is a farm over in Minooka, which is about a half hour from here, that we've been going to every year since Madie was a year old and Noah was still in my belly. :-) We love our trips to the patch. It's so much fun for all of us. This year Pete's sis Jill and her family came down from Chicago to join us - that's her husband Adam and her boys, Trevor (almost 7) and Ty (almost 4). Our kids were sooooooo excited to go today, especially knowing their cousins would be there too. We got there about 10:30 this morning and left around 3. I know I've posted a lot of pictures with this entry, but there were so many fun things to show you all! We packed a lot of great things in those few hours. When we got there, we took the kids over to the little houses and hay area. They have like 7 houses that they've built that are just the right size for little kids. That was Livie's favorite part. It was her favorite last year too. But, before we made it over the bridge to the houses, the older kids stopped off at the pirate ship. They played on that for a while, before they went to play on the hay bales. They have 4 really large hay bales that the kids can climb and jump off of. They didn't want to leave that spot! I do believe that it was Madie and Noah's favorite part of the day! Finally they decided to go join Livie and play in the little houses for a while. We had an hour before we were supposed to get on the hay ride, so they played for quite a while before we headed back over there. The hay ride was ok. The kids enjoyed it, but they had these speakers who told these like ghost/death stories, so it was a little weird. But, as long as the kids had fun, that's all that mattered. It was about 12:30 or so, so we headed over to the food barn. They had an area set up with tables, so we got some pizza, italian beef, nachos, etc... to eat. Ya know, all super-healthy, nutritious stuff. ;-) It was yummy! Then we were off to the train rides. They have a real working coal engine and a REALLY loud whistle!! Everytime they blew it, the kids all jumped. So funny! Then lastly we headed back to the farm house and loaded up on pumpkins, gourds, and mums. Oh, actually before that, we took the kids inside the gift shop and let them pick anything they wanted off this $1 toy shelf thingy. Madie got glow rings, Noah got a rubbery worm thing, and Livie got a rubber rat. The reason I bring this part up is because Livie let "rat" pick out all the pumpkins and gourds. If "rat" had had it his way, we would've brought home 15 pumpkins and more gourds than I can count. They have large wagons there, so we started having the kids each pick their pumpkin and Pete and Adam would load them in. Whatever Livie could lift, she'd bring and stick inside the cart. Noah did the same thing. So, we had to spend a little time putting a few items back. ;-) We took a few more pictures, let the kids pet the bunnies and play on the hay some more and headed home. I'm going to do a post tomorrow probably, showing pictures from all the years we've been at the pumpkin patch, so you can see how they've grown. Trevor and Ty went with us a couple years ago, when Livie was in my tummy. It was so fun to share it with them again - with all the kids there!! We had a terrific time! And, I can't wait to go again next year. :-) Hope you enjoy the MANY, MANY pictures (of which, by the way, I left out about 30!)!!! hehe