Lovin Fall

I must confess...though Spring and Easter have ALWAYS been my favorite season and Holiday of the year, I'm finding that after living in Ohio for 5 years Fall and Thanksgiving are becoming front runners.  I am simply LOVING all things Fall this year.  Yesterday I even discovered Pumpkin donuts...oh my scrumptious! It is absolutely beautiful here this time of year and driving around just makes me smile.  I feel like I'm living in a painting or something.  Anyway...on to yesterday.  Emmaline had a Girl Scout Family field trip to Ramseyer Farms (a working pumpkin and potato farm) on the edge of Amish country.  They are in the middle of their harvest festival and we had an absolutely FABULOUS time.  Matt stayed home to rake leaves, mow the lawn, and clean the gutters (he takes such good care of our family) and Brady had a Birthday party, but the girls, baby, and I went.  Emma ended up running around with all the Girl Scouts, Carson was content in the stroller, so that left Ellie with all my attention on her.  It made for an afternoon free of her whining since all my attention was on her...and we both loved it.  We had sooooo much fun! Enjoy the pictures as proof.

Wagon Train Ride

 Hay Bale Tractor (notice the GREEN....John Deere all the way)!

 Duck Races

 Races at the Spudway

 The Spud Slinger.  Together we slung one potato 175 feet!

 After the hayride with the big group, we had a bonfire and enjoyed lots of yummy food!

 Ellie FINALLY getting to eat one of the Krispy Kreme donuts we contributed.  She had been patiently waiting since the day before when she helped me pick them out at the store.

Emma with some of her friends and friends mom getting ready to go through the Ohio Maze.  They passed out maps and the girls traveled from city to city through out the maze.  They also had  a mini maze and a mystery maze.

 I took these two on the mini maze!

 After the maze, this little man had a blow out with poo down to his socks so I sent Ellie on another wagon train ride while I cleaned him up.  He was a good sport and quite happy for being practically naked in 55 degrees! This was the reason I had to take a quick picture. I love his foot sticking out of the blanket. No worries...I had an extra outfit.

 The pumpkin house.

 The Corn Crib Chute.  This thing was awesome! If Matt would have been with me, I would have been sliding down too!  When we got home I counted about 26 kernels of corn in Ellie's shoes...well worth it though!

Let me introduce Bessie the Cow

A final run at the Spudway (yes we may have been there for 4 hours)!

 Another slide made out of an old combine. This festival was super creative, loads of fun, and worth more than the entrance fee!

 Last but not least we had to pick pumpkins to bring home.  My rule is that the kids can't pick pumpkins that they can't carry.  In order to comply these 2 worked together as a team and we ended up with.....

87....yes that's right...87lbs of pumpkin!!! (25cents a pound...you do the math).  In all honesty tiny little junk pumpkins at the grocery store are $7 each so this was a steal of a deal.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous about how much they were going to weigh and about the dent my wallet was going to feel. :)

We will DEFINITELY be returning next year....hopefully with our friend's the Carlson's from Dayton. Alison I hope you are reading this because all day long I kept thinking about how much fun it would be to have you guys come for the weekend and go here (plus we found an amazing restaurant a mile down the road).

Anyhow....dear Fall you are indeed a front runner in my book.