Great Country Farm with family

We have been going to the same pumpkin patch since I was a teenager and this year was on exception. Great Country Farm has grown since I was young and it keeps getting more fun.

The kids were really excited because this year we were going with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Laura and family, and Callie, Bryce, Aunt Jen and Uncle Eric.

We recently purchased this cute little owl to go with Jude's Halloween costume, but Cole decided to adopt it and it hasn't left his hands since. Poor Jude. I'm hoping Cole's enthusiasm for the stuffed animal wanes a bit by the time Halloween comes around.

Angel baby. She really is so good and just happy to be along for the ride.

We love our Aunt Jen!

Waiting for the hay ride to take us to the pumpkin patch. Allen was there, too!

We *might* have lost Cole for about 5 minutes, but we found him just in time to hope aboard the ride to the field. That kid...

Grandma and Grandpa!

Cousins.

We made it! Now to find the perfect pumpkin.

A giant pickle! 

Thank goodness for all the extra hands. This little girls is so loved.

Grant. He's my little snuggle-bug. Love this kid!

Baby Austin. He's always so content to sit and watch.

Cole was having a hard time finding a pumpkin he liked.

Lily was busy finding bugs.

Still not sure... hunting pumpkins is serious business.

Finally!

Lily and Aunt Jen found this sweet little white pumpkin that Lily fell in love with.

Dude, I wouldn't even know how to carve that one!

Family picture attempts:

Eh, pretty close.

Laura with Grant and Austin. Mason stayed home with Tyler to go to a Birthday party. We missed them!

The whole group!

Sisters. We missed you, Amy!

Next we rode the cow train! The kids LOVED this!

Little dude, you're totally making and Uncle Nate face right there.

Even Lexi got to ride!

They have this awesome inflatable bounce thing the kids spent a good half hour jumping on.

Lily, is that snot all over your face?

Cousins!

The rest of our time was spent running around, going down slides, meeting the livestock, and having fun.

Cole really liked these scooters and after a brief tutorial was able to move around rather well on them.

These slides are made out of irrigation pipes and are super long and fun!

Aww. Lance gave Austin a ride on these petal machines.

Whew! We were exhausted by the time we went home! Grandmom and Pop Pop were sad they couldn't make it, but they were busy at home entertaining Aunt Colleen and Uncle Dave who had driven into town from Pennsylvania.

It was so good to see everyone!

Cole's Preschool trip to the pumpkin patch

October 12th I was able to attend a second field trip for Cole. This time we went to a little farm about 30 minutes away.

Cole and this hat are practically inseparable these days. (But don't call it a Santa hat because it's not--it's an "elf" hat. Apparently Santa hats are red. Duh.)

I brought the girls and Lily had a great time keeping up with the big kids.

Class picture

They had a little "school" where they learned all about the life cycle of a pie pumpkin.

Truly riveting, can you tell?

Fuzzy caterpillar: this girl is still so into bugs.

Our attempt at a selfie inside the corn maze:

We even got to see some cows up close and personal.

And, of course, we picked a couple pumpkins to take home.

Lexi had been an angel the whole time, but I was ready for a nap!

Apples and donuts--family trip to Carter's Mountain

Even though we had just been there with Cole, George and I returned to Carter's Mountain with all the kiddos in tow to pick some apples. We have gone almost every year we've lived here and even though the apple crop this year wasn't the best, we still had a wonderful time.

Is there any other place as lovely?

This kid is as goofy as they come. I love him to pieces, but boy is it hard to be patient sometimes!

Picking apples--it's serious business.

Our attempt at a family picture:

And of course we had to get apple cider donuts!

Fall is probably my favorite season of them all. How can anything be more perfect than this?