Pumpkins!

Last year, with the twins only being 10 months old, we opted for a low key approach to pumpkin picking and it turned out quite nicely. In our area, there is a pretty well known farm called Cox Farms. They have a small kiosk area in our little town where they sell fresh fruits, veggies, flowers and pumpkins/Christmas trees in-season. A little farther out, they have their main farm. Every fall, they have a gigantic festival and we decided we'd take the kids this weekend to check it out. Jason's work sells discounted tickets to everything (hellllllo, cheap movies!) and we got our tickets for $10 cheaper. So, Saturday morning, we were off to Cox Farms Fall Festival!

We stopped to get an early breakfast at Silver Diner, where the kids proceeded to each eat one bowl of strawberries (EACH), 1/2 bagel (EACH), 1/2 waffle (EACH) and a few bites of mommy's spinach omelet. We got to the farm a little after 10:00 and were just overwhelmed by the number of things to do. It is, literally, an all day event. We also opted to leave the stroller in the car so that we could just enjoy ourselves and let the kids run. Can I just tell you all? That turned out surprisingly well! Our little kiddos did beautifully and loved walking around.

Our first stop of the morning was in the chicken house. Figgy and The Professor got to pet a chicken and, in true Figgy fashion, she gave the chicken a kiss. Awwww!


From there, the kids spotted one of the many slides at the festival and, much to form, slid down together. This was the only slide of the day because they were just too interested in the other sites and sounds. Plus, the slides were really more suited for older kids.



We quickly moved on from this slide to...CHOO CHOO (as Ethan would say)! I think we probably spent a good 20 minutes at the train, while the kids crawled in and out. Ethan could be heard throughout the festival screaming, "CHOOOOOOO CHOOOOOOOO!"



From the train, we headed down to see the goats and piglets before boarding what my husband would later deem, "THE best hayride EVER!"

Some of the sites from the hayride:



After the hayride, we were just in time for the kids to learn how to milk their first cow. They were quite pleased with themselves, though, The Professor wasn't too impressed.


Afterwards, we headed up the hill to play in the enclosed play area with all of the baby goats. Figgy met her match in a black billy goat and, after having a few words, , Figgy got a firm head butt on the toosh as she passed by.

Ethan enjoyed the sites around him... as Ellie tried to kiss every single one of the goats in the pen... Eventually, they all wised up to her and ran to the other side of the enclosure. She was determined to find them, however.... :)

The day ended with a trip to the complementary pumpkin patch (one for each paying adult) and mommy had to stop to pick up two magnificent mums for the front porch. On our long, lonely walk to the car through the big field, Ellie decided she was thoroughly exhausted and let go of daddy's hand so that she could lay down in the grass and go to sleep. Needless to say, they were both fast asleep before we hit the freeway for home. The Professor took a four and a half hour nap, Figgy, her customary 2 hour nap (no matter what!).

When asked to recall what she saw during her very busy day, Figgy had this to say:
"Hmmmm...."

And, just because it was a long day and he tends to get incredibly silly when he's overtired, this was Ethan shortly before bedtime. Yes, he did put that on his head by himself and played for quite a while like that.


What a magnificent weekend at our house! Anyone who says there's nothing to do in DC needs to have their head examined.