pumpkin patch 2016

we took our annual trek to the pumpkin patch this past weekend.  this time we tried out a different farm just to have a new experience.  instead of heading to hillridge farms we struck out a path to vollmer farms.  we'd gone to vollmer back this spring to pick strawberries and love that they're all organic.  we were not sure what to expect around the pumpkin patch, but we were very happy with our afternoon there!

of course i made dax pose for about a billion photos, but he obliged pretty well knowing that some amazing fun was on the horizon.  sweet dax didn't disappoint in showing his personality in these pictures.  love him.

this.  is.  dax.

after photos dax got to pick where he wanted to head first.  he checked out the live animals and got to meet a donkey, some baby chicks, and some bunnies.  after the animals he headed over to a zip line contraption that allowed him to plummet in a sawed out barrel straight down a zip line.  unfortunately i miscalculated the swing at the end of the zip line (as the previous daddy was not really letting his kids experience the full joy of the zip line) and so i stood a little too close for pictures.  before i knew what was happening dax was barreling down the zip line straight towards me.  luckily i protected the camera with my left forearm, but dang - five days later and it still hurts!  after the zip line dax moved over to ride the crazy cow train.  this was a tractor pulling more of those sawed out barrels that were turned into seats for the kiddos.  the driver made this extremely fun turning rapid left, right and zigging/zagging all over the place.  the kids were screaming with hilarious giggles as they made their way all across the back part of the farm.  once the ride was over dax wanted to go on the giant slide that is built into the side of the mountain.  he grabbed a burlap sack and headed for the top of the mountain.  will stayed up top to keep eye out and i hung out at the bottom to see him come squealing with laughter as he shot out of the tunnel like a rocket!  he must have done this slide about 20 times!

when the sun started setting i told dax he better go check out everything else they had to offer and we headed towards the giant bouncy pillow.  dax saw the giant pillow and immediately began stripping out of his shoes and socks, leaving a trail behind him as he made his way up the pillow.  i think he could have jumped on this thing for a straight day if we'd let him.  we allowed him about an hour of jumping and only made him move on so he could see everything else there was to see before we needed to head back home.  this, however - was his favorite thing at the pumpkin patch!

after the bouncy pillow we took a quick trip through the corn maze.  dax was pretty bored by this and quickly wanted to move on.  next we headed to the pumpkin launch.  it was like a giant catapult king, which is one of his favorite games on the ipad.  all three of us lined up to see who could hit the pumpkins with the baseball sling shots.  daddy definitely had better skills than dax and i had at this game!  after quite a few rounds we let dax have some fun in the corn bin.  he loved laying in the corn, rolling in the corn, putting the corn all over himself, and managed to get corn in his socks, pockets, and underpants!  corn for everyone!  last but not least, we took a hayride back to the pumpkin patch, picked out a pumpkin, and loaded up in the car.  it was an awesome afternoon, and we were all tired (from trimming bushes earlier in the day and this in the afternoon, which in hindsight was just too much for one day - but we were short on october weekends!) and ready for bed!

all in all, we loved vollmer farms so much more than hillridge.  it was not crowded or over stimulating.  dax had an amazing time and we cannot wait to go back next fall!