Today was our 9th year at Dollinger Farms! Can hardly believe we've gone for so long. It's gone by so quickly! This year I'm titling "The Year of Independence". For almost a decade we've had one kid or another that needed our constant supervision and help. This year, they were all old enough to navigate the things on their own and they wanted to do that. They loved the freedom that came with going from one thing to another without mom or dad following them along. I mean, I had to do that a little, so I could take pictures, but they enjoyed a new freedom they haven't had their before. :-)
Our first out-of-order picture is at the new installment at the farm - the castle! Livie loved this thing. Not only did it have a drawbridge, but TWO slides in the back! Every year we go back and there seems to be something new. So, this was a really fun new piece they added!
You'll see I got a few more pictures of Livie. She was slow enough for me to keep up with most of the time. :-) Here she is driving the firetruck.
The champions of the hay bales!!!
Noah wasn't up for just driving the firetruck. He wanted to ride on the roof!
Livie looked all over for a thing she was tall enough to peek her head through and she was very excited when she found this barrel of apples. :-)
This was where we started our day. As we waited a couple minutes for Jill, Adam, and the boys to arrive, we took this cute shot by the corn maze. They are holding up corn cobs they found on the ground. This is the first year we've done the corn maze, so they were very excited as you'll see later....
As I said, this was the year of Independence. The kids all rode on the train by themselves for the first time! Livie was a little scared without us, so Ty had her sit on his lap to make her feel better. I mean, seriously, how sweet is that?! These cousins LOVE each other!!!
As we were walking back to get some lunch, we passed the horses they use for the hay ride. They were so pretty!
We had the kids sit or stand by these wood carvings. I remember last year the guy was actually there carving them while we watched. So cool! The kids liked them a lot too.
Not only did I have trouble uploading the pictures in order, but my camera died about 15 min into our day there, so I had to upload from my phone AND my camera. Not enjoyable. Not to mention the fact that I'm old-fashioned and really do not enjoy taking photos with a cell phone. You should've seen how many pictures I took of the ground and my coat pocket, because I couldn't figure out how to work the thing! But, anyway - again with the independence thing - after Jill and Adam got there, we headed into the corn maze. And, every attempt we made to get a picture of the kids while in this maze resulted in a picture of their backs!! They weren't slowing down for anything. They were determined to find the exit to this thing all on their own without any help from us. They eventually took a short cut and cut through a row of corn to get to the outside and once they were out, they realized the REAL exit was only 4 rows over! :-)
Now here we are back at the lunch pavilion. This tractor was inside the building and the kids really wanted a picture by it. With full bellies, they were ready to go!
First thing on the agenda after lunch were the HAY BALES!! Usually we're helping them climb up, but Livie was the only one who needed a boost this year and Uncle Adam happily complied. But, not before Ty was KING OF THE WORLD!
The kids loved jumping back and forth between the bales. Usually there are a lot of people at the patch, but because we went so early, there weren't many there, so this gave them the chance to play on them fairly uninterrupted for a while. It was great!
I try every year to get a picture of the kids in the windows of this little church. I remember holding Livie up in the window when she was a baby. Time has gone by so fast!
Of course, everything stopped when they discovered a daddy long-leg. There were a couple bug encounters while we were there today as you'll see.
I wanted to get a long shot of the patch. Now this isn't the whole thing obviously, but it gives you an idea of how fun it is! These are just some of the little houses and the hay bale thingy. You see the rows and rows of pumpkins they have there. We spent a long time looking for the best pumpkins today. :-)
Here is more of the house area. The firetruck and new castle is back there.
Our other bug encounter was with a praying mantis. Since those buggers fly, I didn't want any part of it. But, had to at least get a picture of the action! All 5 kids were there to see/play with the thing.
Livie really wanted to go see the goats, so while the kids played, I took her over to see them. They were pretty nervous though. She wasn't able to get very close to any of them this time.
They had these big crates of gourds. The kids spent lots of time picking out just the right ones to take home. We got a big cart to carry them all in!
You can see everyone was involved in the picking process. :-) I really wanted a ghost pumpkin, but we got so many others, that we decided spending over $40 on pumpkins was getting a little crazy, so we didn't. Maybe next year!
Trevor decided that some of the gourds looked like "battle gourds", so Madie, Noah, and Trev got them ready to fight! They are "The Gourd Warriors"!!
Trevor was in charge of pulling the cart. I felt bad for him and offered to take it off his hands a couple times, but said he really enjoyed doing it. He's almost 10, so he liked having that fun responsibility. Boy, they are growing up fast!! By the way, check out Trevor's MASSIVE pumpkin! Can't wait to see it carved up!
Had to get the prerequisite shot of the kids on the pumpkins. Aren't they awesome?! I swear, it's always so fun to have the Schutz Family join us!
And, had to get one of just our kids too. Using the cell phone camera prevented me from seeing anything I was taking, so I'm actually shocked I got some centered shots of my kids smiling!
Livie and Noah picked out their pumpkins pretty quickly, but Madie went on a perfect pumpkin hunt with Pete. They found a great one too!
One of the gourds Madie picked out was the teeny-tiniest gourd ever! She wanted a picture of it by the biggest pumpkin in the place - the one Trevor got. :-)
We had the kids stand by their cart of pumpkins and gourds when we were finished pickin'. Nana and Papa T, this is one for the frig! Look at how much they love each other. Happy, smiling cousins with their big finds of the day! What a great day we had with Jill, Adam, and the boys! Wish we could do it again next week (with a working camera!). ;-)
As I said, this was the year of Independence. The kids all rode on the train by themselves for the first time! Livie was a little scared without us, so Ty had her sit on his lap to make her feel better. I mean, seriously, how sweet is that?! These cousins LOVE each other!!!
As we were walking back to get some lunch, we passed the horses they use for the hay ride. They were so pretty!
We had the kids sit or stand by these wood carvings. I remember last year the guy was actually there carving them while we watched. So cool! The kids liked them a lot too.
Not only did I have trouble uploading the pictures in order, but my camera died about 15 min into our day there, so I had to upload from my phone AND my camera. Not enjoyable. Not to mention the fact that I'm old-fashioned and really do not enjoy taking photos with a cell phone. You should've seen how many pictures I took of the ground and my coat pocket, because I couldn't figure out how to work the thing! But, anyway - again with the independence thing - after Jill and Adam got there, we headed into the corn maze. And, every attempt we made to get a picture of the kids while in this maze resulted in a picture of their backs!! They weren't slowing down for anything. They were determined to find the exit to this thing all on their own without any help from us. They eventually took a short cut and cut through a row of corn to get to the outside and once they were out, they realized the REAL exit was only 4 rows over! :-)
Now here we are back at the lunch pavilion. This tractor was inside the building and the kids really wanted a picture by it. With full bellies, they were ready to go!
First thing on the agenda after lunch were the HAY BALES!! Usually we're helping them climb up, but Livie was the only one who needed a boost this year and Uncle Adam happily complied. But, not before Ty was KING OF THE WORLD!
The kids loved jumping back and forth between the bales. Usually there are a lot of people at the patch, but because we went so early, there weren't many there, so this gave them the chance to play on them fairly uninterrupted for a while. It was great!
I try every year to get a picture of the kids in the windows of this little church. I remember holding Livie up in the window when she was a baby. Time has gone by so fast!
Of course, everything stopped when they discovered a daddy long-leg. There were a couple bug encounters while we were there today as you'll see.
I wanted to get a long shot of the patch. Now this isn't the whole thing obviously, but it gives you an idea of how fun it is! These are just some of the little houses and the hay bale thingy. You see the rows and rows of pumpkins they have there. We spent a long time looking for the best pumpkins today. :-)
Here is more of the house area. The firetruck and new castle is back there.
Our other bug encounter was with a praying mantis. Since those buggers fly, I didn't want any part of it. But, had to at least get a picture of the action! All 5 kids were there to see/play with the thing.
Livie really wanted to go see the goats, so while the kids played, I took her over to see them. They were pretty nervous though. She wasn't able to get very close to any of them this time.
They had these big crates of gourds. The kids spent lots of time picking out just the right ones to take home. We got a big cart to carry them all in!
You can see everyone was involved in the picking process. :-) I really wanted a ghost pumpkin, but we got so many others, that we decided spending over $40 on pumpkins was getting a little crazy, so we didn't. Maybe next year!
Trevor decided that some of the gourds looked like "battle gourds", so Madie, Noah, and Trev got them ready to fight! They are "The Gourd Warriors"!!
Trevor was in charge of pulling the cart. I felt bad for him and offered to take it off his hands a couple times, but said he really enjoyed doing it. He's almost 10, so he liked having that fun responsibility. Boy, they are growing up fast!! By the way, check out Trevor's MASSIVE pumpkin! Can't wait to see it carved up!
Had to get the prerequisite shot of the kids on the pumpkins. Aren't they awesome?! I swear, it's always so fun to have the Schutz Family join us!
And, had to get one of just our kids too. Using the cell phone camera prevented me from seeing anything I was taking, so I'm actually shocked I got some centered shots of my kids smiling!
Livie and Noah picked out their pumpkins pretty quickly, but Madie went on a perfect pumpkin hunt with Pete. They found a great one too!
One of the gourds Madie picked out was the teeny-tiniest gourd ever! She wanted a picture of it by the biggest pumpkin in the place - the one Trevor got. :-)
We had the kids stand by their cart of pumpkins and gourds when we were finished pickin'. Nana and Papa T, this is one for the frig! Look at how much they love each other. Happy, smiling cousins with their big finds of the day! What a great day we had with Jill, Adam, and the boys! Wish we could do it again next week (with a working camera!). ;-)
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