Pumpkin Patch with Jude

On October 17 the McClung Family invited us to go to the Children's Home Pumpkin Patch with them. And afterwards, they shared some of their photos with me. After looking at their awesome pictures, I'm convinced that I need to take a photography class and better learn how to take phenomenal pictures. They just put me to shame.

Take for example the two pictures below. It's their picture compared to mine. 

But really, the Children's Home was spectacular! There were so many fun activities for kids of all ages!

 "pump-a-rubber-duck" station

I'm pretty sure this was Jude's favorite station. Even though the water was cold, he was so excited to keep pumping the little ducks down their ramp. Every time we went to a different activity, Jude would wander off and we would find him back here!

Kernel Corn Sandbox

I thought that most children wouldn't like this because of sensory issues. But it seemed to be a hit with Lily. She just calmly put corn kernels (one by one) into her green pumpkin bucket and eventually dumped them all out on Jude. 

Apple Shooter

This specific activity was $3/bucket, but the look on Jonathan's face was priceless as he helped the kids load, aim, and shoot the apples into the apple gun. Every time an apple crashed and exploded on one of the cars, Jonathan gave a big "Ohhhhhh" like it was a touchdown, but I think that it was better than watching football! They were kind enough to let Lily have a turn even though we didn't pay for any buckets.

On the way back to the activities, Jonathan took advantage of the lighting, background, and kids smiles and took pictures of them.  He is so, so talented. They look amazing! I took some with my iPhone, but, trust me, you can tell which ones are his and which are mine!

To wind down our day the kids went on a little cow ride throughout the pumpkin patch. The smiles on their faces tell it all!

We wrapped up by sliding down the big tunnel slide onto hay. It was not fun. Lily bit her lip because she had to sit in Mommy's lap. Wait... let me back up... Lily got to the top, refused to slide down, so Mommy had to climb up in front of all the kids in line, and sit down with Lily to get her to go down the slide. I hit the ground so hard I got the wind knocked out of me, and I'm still finding hay in my shoes from when we went two weeks ago. Next time, it's Daddy's turn to go down the slide with Lily.

And I was shocked to see Lily pet the pig. She is so weary and nervous of any animal that I couldn't believe she actually stuck her hand through the fence and touched him. Maybe it's because there was a fence between them, maybe it was peer pressure, but it was a proud Mommy moment for me to catch on camera.

As we left, we met up with Michal (who stayed home while Marco napped) and picked out some pumpkins from their awesome selection! Lily chose the smallest possible pumpkin (besides those small bitty uncarvable ones).

Everything about this place was filled with fun and laughter. It is the epitome of fall, harvest, and Halloween. We felt privileged to be invited to go with the McClung family and hope we can turn this into an annual tradition!