Monday, October 19, 2009

Grace's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Last Wednesday was Grace's very first field trip with her preschool class and it happened to be to the Pumpkin Patch. All the kids were supposed to bring at least one adult with them (can you imagine taking 16 preschoolers to the pumpkin patch with only 2 adults? Yikes!) and siblings were welcome so Ethan and I came along as well. The weather forecast called for rain so we dressed in rain coats and boots and I decided to brave bringing my camera along. The rain didn't happen until the last five minutes we were there. Instead we were nearly blown away by some seriously strong wind! At least I didn't have to figure out how to keep my camera dry.

Once everybody was more or less assembled we got to take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Ethan wasn't too sure about the hay ride, but once we went by some cows both kids got pretty excited. They didn't even notice the huge field of pumpkins until after they couldn't see the cows anymore!

Grace excited on the hay ride!

Once we got to the pumpkin patch each child was given a plastic bag to put their pumpkin in and we were set loose. Grace wanted a small pumpkin and found hers really fast. Ethan spent more time watching everybody else and couldn't figure out what we were all doing with pumpkins. Grace showed him how to hold them and he looked so confused. I don't think he liked all the dirt!

Grace holding her prized pumpkin

Ethan wondering why on earth I wanted him to hold a dirty "ball" with a stem

After the kids had all chosen a pumpkin we piled the pumpkins back on the truck and then walked over to the apple orchard nearby. The farmer gathered the kids around him and talked about apples and how to grow them. At the end of his speech he said that everybody could pick one apple each. The kids thought that was super fun and immediately tried to bite their apples. I managed to get them back fairly quick so we could enjoy them (washed!) later.

Grace listening to the farmer with the rest of her class. She was very interested in how the trees got a "haircut" and kept trying to tell the farmer about how her Mommy takes her to get her haircut too!

Ethan found his apple first

Grace showing me her apple

Next we got to go through the corn maze. The corn maze was in the shape of a covered wagon and was a lot easier to navigate then I anticipated. Of course I let Grace decide our course and maybe she just has a better sense of direction then I do! In the middle of the corn maze there was a tall pipe slide and stack of hay bales. Grace went down the slide a few times and I attempted very unsuccessfully to take a photo of both kids together. I couldn't get them looking at me at the same time, and if they did they were sitting two feet apart. After a zillion tries I got one where at least they're both looking the same direction. Maybe I'll try again sometime.

Trying to keep up with the kids through the corn maze

Grace loved the pipe slide!

As pathetic as this picture is, it's actually the best one I have of the two of them together.

After we found the exit from the corn maze we went by the petting zoo area. Grace didn't want to touch the animals but liked to look at them. I didn't get any pictures of Ethan with the animals because I couldn't peel him off of my legs. Apparently farm animals are scary in real life. They're fine in books, but the real noises they make are not for him!

Hello Sheep!

Our last stop was at the donut and cider tent. We got in line for a dixie cup of really tasty apple cider and an apple cider donut. The kids slurped the cider down pretty quick before they attacked their donuts. As we were finishing up the rain started so I hurried them along and we jumped in the car. The whole trip lasted about two hours, and all during Ethan's usual nap time. He fell asleep before we even left the parking lot and Grace fell asleep somewhere between Salem and Dallas. It was a fun trip.

Grace enjoying her donut. I noticed that Grace had outgrown her pink rain coat only after I put it on her when we arrived. Ethan's still fits from last spring though!

Poor Ethan getting blasted by the wind...look at his hair!

What we all looked like by the end of two hours of heavy winds and the start of a downpour. Notice there are no pictures of me!

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