Drew's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today I got to go on a field trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm with Drew's first grade class. We had a lot of fun! I was a volunteer driver, so I drove Drew, Abigail and Kathleen. I had never met these friends of his, so it was fun to have them in the car and listen to them talk on the 45 minute drive to the farm. It was freezing in the morning! I had on a fleece and a jacket and gloves and was still cold! The kids got to go on a hayride, a train ride, see pig races (kind of), visit a petting zoo, play on coyote mountain, and of course pick their pumpkins right out of the patch! We also packed a picnic lunch and I snuck over to the bakery to buy pumpkin-apple muffins (delicious!) and a carmel apple to bring home. We had so much fun and I was exhausted when we got back! I even took a little nap. I'm so glad that I'm able to stay at home with my kids so that I can take advantage of these opportunities. They are growing up so fast and I just want to spend as much time with them as I can.

 Abigail, Kathleen and Drew

 Drew and best buddy Alex

 Drew's giant pumpkin!

 The kids with their pumpkins

 Drew petting a baby goat

Me and my boy on the hay ride

After we got back from Drew's field trip, I had to take Ava to get her pumpkin since we had used hers to make pumpkin pies. I took her back to the Pumpkin Farm (it's close to our house) and let her pick out her pumpkin for carving. It was bigger than her! We are all ready to carve our pumpkins on Friday!

Pumpkin Pies

Ava decided that she wanted to use her pumpkin from the pumpkin patch to make pumpkin pie. It ended up being a two day process. First she scooped the guts out (and saved the seeds so we could roast them). Then I baked the halves in the oven until the flesh was tender enough to scoop out. We pureed the pulp until it was smooth. Then the next day Ava helped me make a pie crust and we added all the ingredients to make the pumpkin pie filling. It was a success! Both kids loved the homemade pumpkin pie! And Ava is such a good helper in the kitchen. She is always wanting to help me cook. I love that girl!

Scooping out the guts

Ready to go in the oven

The finished pie

Ava ready to eat her pie!

Drew loves it too!

Ava's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today I went with Ava's preschool class to the Pumpkin Farm. It's very close to our house and has so many fun things for the kids to do. First there is a short presentation about the farm. Did you know that corn is in the grass family? Ava and her class do! After the presentation they got to go on a hayride around the farm. Ava loves the animals--she especially liked feeding the goats. We went through a corn maze (Ava ran ahead of us the whole time), then they got to go down a big, giant slide, and play on a hay pyramid. We decided to skip the haunted house. Too scary for preschoolers! Ava and I each picked out a sugar pie pumpkin to take home and she decided that she wanted to make hers into a pumpkin pie. Which is just what we did! 

Ava and Molly

Me and Ava on the hayride

Petting a goat

Ava and Keilani

Sweet girl

In the corn maze

Coming down one of the smaller slides

Me and my girl at the top of the pyramid

Ava and some classmates

Ava and her sugar pie pumpkin

Jack-o-Lanterns

The kids were so excited to carve pumpkins the other night. They could not wait! It was one of those awesome, this is why we have children--to see the joy through their eyes, moment. It was adorable! Ava picked a picture of a jack-o-lantern she wanted me to copy onto her pumpkin. Drew drew a face on his and I was very impressed with his drawing. I made a bat and Dan made a scary tree. Our friend Kate was here and she made a tipsy pumpkin tossing his pumpkin seeds. We stayed up a little late to finish and the kids liked seeing their pumpkins lit in the dark.

So many pumpkin patches

This week was the week of pumpkin patches for our family. On Friday we met some friends from church at a pumpkin farm and helped pick 200 pumpkins for our the harvest festival we put on every year to benefit the community. I forgot my camera, but the kids had so much fun walking through the rows and rows of pumpkins and picking small ones to load onto the truck.

Then on Saturday, while the husbands were golfing, a bunch of the women from our life group met at another pumpkin patch right by our house for a day of fun with the kids. Ava had her first pony ride and she really enjoyed it! Drew enjoyed watching her, he is still not interested in actually riding a pony himself. He was excited for the jump houses and train ride though! The kids jumped twice each and totally worked up an appetite for lunch. The train ride was a crowd pleaser too. After our picnic lunch some nice ladies who were leaving the patch gave us the rest of their animal feed so we could feed the goats and sheep. The kids love doing that, but the germ aspect freaks me out a little. We sanitized right after then went home and washed our hands with warm soapy water.

And today, Drew's preschool class has a field trip to yet another pumpkin patch. I can't imagine that there is anything there that we haven't seen yet, but I guess it will be fun to go with another group of friends.

Ava's first pony ride!

Ella, Eben, Drew, Chloe, Irie and Ava on the train

Saturday night we went out to sushi with our friend Pete to celebrate his birthday. Here we are getting ready to do a celebratory sake bomb:

Darcy, Eric, Andrea, Dan, Faye, Jeff, Pete, Jen

The bomb in progress

Apple Hill

We decided to make a last minute trip up to Apple Hill on Thursday. We went with the Quayle family and the kids were so excited! First, they all got to be squashed into one minivan, which was very exciting for them. They watched a movie on the drive up and everyone was well behaved. As we made the turn onto the frontage road that is lined with farms, the kids were shouting "Yay! Apple Hill!"

Keilani, Drew, Jacob, Ava, and baby Meigan (covered up in her rear facing carseat) excited for Apple Hill!

We stopped at two places, High Hill and Plubell's. High Hill has free freshly made apple juice (yum!), lots of apple yumminess like apple donuts, apple fritters, caramel apples, apple pie, apple juice and plain old apples. They also have a fish pond and picnic area and the kids love to run around, roll down the grass hill, feed the fish and ducks and eat apple donuts. They also have pony rides on the weekend, which I didn't realize and talked up pony rides to the kids before we got there. Fortunately they weren't too upset that the ponies were "resting."

The five kids and a GIANT pumpkin

Drew and Ava squinting into the sun

Ava and Keilani, best buddies

The kids feeding the ducks and fish

After a yummy lunch of roasted chicken and apple salad we headed over to Plubell's, which is known for it's animals, pumpkin patch and tractors for the kids to sit on. The kids enjoyed feeding the goats, but the black one kept butting the smaller goats when we'd try to feed them. So Drew would feed Blackie to distract him while Ava fed "the tiny ones." She was scared of the big ones. We visited the pigs and chickens, played on the tractors and then went to pick our pumpkins. We also tried to buy pies to take home, but there was no pie to be had! I guess we'll have to go again...

Drew feeding Blackie

Ava feeding a tiny goat

Me and my kids

Drew swinging (the girls are in the background looking at chickens)

Drew and Ava drive the tractor

Apple Hill