Day at the pumpkin patch

We wanted to get out of the house on Saturday, so we loaded everyone up and headed to the pumpkin patch.

As you can see, reactions were mixed, but generally everyone was glad to get out for a while.

After a quick stop for some grub and hitting the ATM we headed out to Sutherland Farms.

We weren't prepared for how far out in the boonies it was, so the anxiety among the little ones built to quite a fever pitch before we got there.

But eventually we made it and prepared to enjoy a very pleasant fall day out in the country.

We had never been here before so we didn't know what to expect. From what I had heard I had expected a little more of a carnival atmosphere, rides and such.

Instead we found a family farm with lots of hand painted signs and home made attractions.

But this was nice too. Something we hadn't seen a while lot of since we had left the midwest.

There seemed to be plenty to do. There was very much a county fair atmosphere, but that also meant that everything had a price. But we came to have a good time, so why not?


They had a cow milking station. Unfortunately, though, the water had froze and ruined the nipples.

They had lots of these picture taking stations.

A few barnyard animals to make faces at. Unfortunately they discouraged petting.

This was a duck race. You put the ducks in the trench them pump like crazy.

The goose was very talkative, but when anyone got close it tried to run.

It shared a pen with a very ugly rabbit.

Everyone decided to see how tall they were. Maybe we'll come back next year and see how much taller they are.

We headed off to the corn maze. We took this picture in case we got lost and were never heard from again..

If you've never been in a field of dried corn plants, it is very spooky. The wind rattles the plants and you can just imagine it's the rattle of the dried bones of others who have gotten lost in the field.

We had to turn around a lot.

Fortunately, we all survived.

The kids enjoyed the tractor train. This particular run was all Andersens.

To get to the actual pumpkin patch we had to take a wagon ride. The kids had never seen mules up close before.

Sadly, being the end of the season, the patch was picked pretty thin. Also, it had froze a couple of nights before so the pumpkins that were left were damaged and rotting. It was a big disappointment.

We did, however, manage to find a few that would make good jack-o-lanterns as long as we kept the designs simple.

All in all it was a great fall afternoon to be out and about and getting some air and sun.