Dewberry Farm 2014

Kate loves Dewberry Farm. And Will and Harry did too when they were younger.  I will admit that the first time or two we went was fun.  But over the years, I have come to dread going a bit.  The crowds have gotten crazy (and I hate crowds) and it has become ridiculously expensive and a little commercialized.  The truth is though, we live in a huge city and there are not many options for pumpkin patches or corn mazes.  So a few weeks ago, we had an open Saturday morning and we woke up early and headed out to the burbs.   When we left it was sunny and warm at our house but by the time we got there, it was rainy and cold.

I guess it was a little bit of a blessing in disguise because it was not crowded at all.  And the most important thing is...Kate and Harry had fun.  The rain did not seem to bother them a bit.

Harry's favorite thing for years has been these pedal cars.  He loves them and so we started there.

After the pedal cars, Kate wanted to jump on the bouncy pillows but they were too wet and slippery, so it was off to the corn cannons....

These cannons are very loud and powerful but their accuracy seems lacking.  

Nonetheless, the kids enjoy them every year.

It was raining but that did not slow Kate and Harry down a bit.  They jumped in these wheels and started racing...








Is is awful that I have serious envy of Kate's calf muscles?  Wait, don't answer that.
She might be tiny but the girl is STRONG!





They got completely wet on the zip lines but they did not care.








I love seeing my kids laugh and play together. Unfortunately, Will had work and a retreat meeting.  I think this will likely be Harry's last year going, so I tried to really soak it up.  My kids are growing up so fast!



Off to the gem mine...








Kate's tongue of concentration..all 3 peanuts do that (Dave too).

We did not end up taking the hayride this year out to the pumpkin patch or doing the corn maze but everyone had fun doing what we did.



And of course, they LOVE the kettle corn.

Looking at old photos it looks like maybe we skipped last year. I know we went in 2012 (and I have a short video of it) on October 7th but it looks like my computer crashed shortly thereafter and I never posted about it.  I am going to have to try to dig those photos out of my old computer.

Pumpkin Patch Part 2

Harry's favorite thing at the pumpkin patch was these pedal cars!

Let me start me saying that Harry is uber-coordinated.  He picks up all sorts of athletic-y things very easily (unlike his uber-uncoordinated Mom).  However, he could not get the hang of these pedal cars at first...

But when he saw his Dad hop right on and zoom away (another one of those annoyingly coordinated people!), He was determined to figure it out. 

{See Harry struggling in the background?}

 Harry is like that.  He is not one to give up easily.  And within a few minutes, he had it down...

These pedal thingies were Harry's favorite thing to do.  He loved it and supposedly they are a great workout!  He told us he wants one for Christmas.  As soon as we walked in the door, he googled them to put on his Christmas list....but as you can see they are quite pricey! Bummer!

Finally, it was time to take the ride out to the pumpkin patch.  Due to the drought here (extreme heat in addition to no rain) the pumpkin crop was lost at this farm. So we could not pick the pumpkins off the vine.  Instead they put a bunch of pumpkins in a field.

Kate was so excited to find her pumpkin!!

Harry had a blue snow cone (hence the blue teeth and lips:)












{Will was still at Yellowstone but he is back now and settling in. Re-entry is always hard. I guess it is hard to adjust to parents and a family after not having that for a week;)}

Pumpkin Picking Texas Style {Sunday Snapshot}

You know how much I LOVE Fall and I how much I miss the Northern Autumns that I grew up with but I try to make the best of it here where our fall is just like summer.

A few years ago when we first moved back here from Virginia, I found a place called Dewberry Farms.  We spent a day there and picked our own pumpkins off the vine.  It is kind of far away and we have not gone back since then but we went this weekend.

This is not just your quaint little country pumpkin patch (although I wish it were).

It had all sorts of things for the peanuts to climb on

And slide down....

And swing from....

Harry was SO sweet with Kate the whole day.
He is an incredible big brother (especially when Will is away).





and ZIP from...







and ride



and jump on...







and shoot





Harry LOVED shooting the corn cob cannon!



They also had a water bottle cannon.  He was a great shot.

Okay...we did get pumpkins too but that is going to have to be a part 2 for the next post because I am sick of uploading pictures tonight.

P.S.  I used Florabella's new actions (Classic Workflow) on some of these photos.  They are the BEST actions (created by one of my best friends)!  You can click on the link below to get your own set.



And you can see more Sunday Snapshots here...