We had an awesome ADVENTURE today. Dlo and I decided to take L.I.Am and PrincessCrazyHair (henceforth referred to as PCH, or BabyB) to a pumpkin patch in Laurel County. After some convincing we packed our bags and headed out to Hillsview Stables for some fun. After the adventure of actually getting there (GPS and 3G doesn't like to play nice around here) we drove into Hillsview Stables.
Liamus_Prime had been crying all day about going to slide, and we he saw the Big Slide, that's all he wanted to do. We paid our entrance and made our way past the horses to the "hub" of the farm.
We tried to get the kids focused on the animals, but L.I.Am's mind was made up. We bought him a ride all day pass and let him go. However, he didn't go far...Liamus got about half way up the the ride and decided it wasn't for him, and thus made his way back down. The people there were fair and let us have some train ride tickets instead. Something for the whole family! We boarded the "train" (a glorified tractor fitted to look like a train with some carriages to sit in on the back. We didn't go far-up a hill, turn in a field, and back-but the kids seemed to enjoy it, especially PCH.
She was giggling most of the way. I think the wind kind of wore her out, she was all huggles near the end of the ride. After the ride, Dlo thought it would be a good idea to let L.I.Am ride the ponies. We took him up there, and he was excited at the idea at first. However, he changed his mind quite quickly. We tried to let BabyB ride, but she wasn't interested either. We took the opportunity to go back to the animals and try to feed them. Liamus became obsessed with the "milking cow" thing they had. Soon, BabyB followed. They got each other a little wet and a whole lot of dirty, and they enjoyed every minute of it.
I took the opportunity to slide away for a little hot chocolate and a funnel cake. There are so few times during a year to enjoy a good funnel cake. By the time I turned around, Dlo informed me that Liamus made the decision to ride the pony, and he enjoyed it thoroughly. We enjoyed the fruits of our labor and then made the decision that the Hay Ride was next for us. We hopped on about ten minutes later and was being whisked away down the road. We had no clue that we were being taken to a nearby, real life PUMPKIN PATCH!!
Liamus and PCH immediately brightened up at the thought of walking through the patch. Even Dlo was amused and excited at the idea of being able to pick out a pumpkin. We spent about thirty minutes walking around the patch, looking for "just the right one." Liamus got himself a nice white pumpkin, BabyB wasn't interested in anything other than falling and whining, but we got her a smallish looking gourd anyways. Dlo became infactuated with some reddish pumpkins that were in the field, so she made sure to pick her one up. Five dollars later we loaded up and headed back to the farm. A good bye to the horses, one last look at Hillview Stables, and we were back on the road, exhausted, but pumpkin laden and thoroughly happy.
