Pumpkin Patch Outing

One of the things that MDO (Mother's Day Out) tries to do is connect moms with other moms. One of the ways we do this is by planning outings. For the past two years we have gone to Circle S Farms for a visit to the pumpkin patch. For the past two years it has been cold and rainy. As a result, I wasn't even going to plan a trip to the Pumpkin Patch this year. Next to Polaris Playplace, Circle S Farm raked #2 on my least favorite places to take my children list. However, there was so much interest in going, that I couldn't ignore it and I planned a visit.

Two days before our visit, the extended forecast called for rain. I was dreading the trip even more. If I wasn't the director, I would've have bailed. I am so glad that I didn't. We had a really amazing day. Last year we had about twenty paying people from MDO join us, this year we had thirty.

The first part of our day was better than the past. First of all it wasn't raining. Yippee! The weather was beautiful. In fact one might even be able to complain that it was too hot. Once everyone arrived we went to eat our cider and donuts. The bees were TERRIBLE. We couldn't eat our donuts fast enough. I guess one of the benefits to it raining is less bees. I think that next year, I will bring ziplock bags and we will just save the donuts for the car. After eating donuts and running away from bees, we headed over to take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. After a long wait and a lot of debating (to take or not to take the strollers), we were finally on our way. I've very thankful that Carson and Kaylin are old enough to carry their own pumpkins, I know that was a big difference from past years. I'm also thankful to all of the mommies who were smart enough to bring their husbands. I'll see if I can convince Brad to come next year.

After selecting our pumpkins and dropping them off at the car, it was time to explore the rest of the farm. We had never stayed this long in the past. I had always bailed shortly after the hay ride. so we were entering uncharted territory. The big hit of the afternoon was Scarecrow Cave. It's a maze that's built on a grid with straw bails stacked three high with open fencing across the top to make a tunnel. The kids had so much fun running around in there. We all wore matching T-shirts to the farms. At first we looked like dorks, but once the kids were running around Scarecrow Cave, I looked like a genesis. I almost always knew where my kids were and all of the other adults knew which ones belonged to me. We made these shirts last week with our friends; Ms. Melissa, Alison and Charlie (talk about a crazy playdate.) Check out their blog to see pictures of our visit.

After Scarecrow Cave, we tried to do a couple of the other things at the farm; petting zoo, sunflower maze, cornfield maze, and fun barn. The kiddoes were pretty tired and the only thing that we had enough energy for was the fun barn which is a barn full of straw for the kids to climb on. I did get a video of the kids going down the slide, but I had to learn the hard way, that you can't turn the camera when taking video.

Finally it was time to leave. Carter could barely keep his eyes open and Kaylin was fading fast, but Carson could have played for hours. Will I ever be able to wear him out?

I would say the day was a huge success!! We will definitely it again next year.