I knew we would be back! We got to squeeze in one last visit to Kruger's farm today, for their annual Harvest Party. All the activities were set to start that evening, but we headed out to the farm a little earlier in the afternoon so the kids would have a chance to pick out a pumpkin. Usually by this time of year the kids and I have hit up at least a half dozen pumpkin patches, but because of some recent events that I can't share yet, we haven't made it to a single one. We didn't send out invitations for our annual Halloween party, because its just not going to happen for us this year. And to further cement the lack of Halloween spirit, all our boxes of decorations for inside and lights for outside are still sitting up in the attic, gathering dust. Boo.
But even if we aren't celebrating the holiday with our usual festive flair, I was determined not to completely cheat my kids out of the pumpkin picking experience. It simply isn't the same to pick out your pumpkin from the local grocery store - if there isn't mud, hayrides and animals, I say it doesn't count. So this was the perfect opportunity to get more bang for our pumpkin patching buck, and we were all pretty excited to be there. We loaded up on the hayride first:
I cant get over how grown up the kids look in this picture, especially Killian!
It was a beautiful day and the hayride took us really far out to fields that we had never been to before. We got a great view of the farm from there - you can see the big red main store to the right, and the little white tents to the left were near where the bonfire would be later than night.
There were a bazillion pumpkins to choose from!
The perfect pumpkin hunters:
Matthew, Killian and I all found our pumpkins relatively quickly, but it took Rowan a little longer to find the pumpkin that spoke to her. She finally found it in a far off corner of the field, and it was so wonderful that we had to stop right there and pose for a picture with it:
Four little pumpkins, all in a row:
We rode the hayride back to the barn, and met up with our wonderful friends Angie and Brett. The kids were thrilled to see their buddy Catie, and they ran off to play and explore the fields of flowers together. Its so hard to find a friendship like the one we have with them, and I am thankful everyday for their presence in our lives and all the love and happiness they bring to it.
A blurry picture of us grown ups:
We enjoyed a picnic dinner together, and hung out chatting until it got dark. The kids occupied themselves by playing with all the flowers they were finding on the ground, and by climbing nearby trees. Killian went over to say hi to the girls while they were up in one tree, they told him that they were pretending to be marsupials. These girls are so cute!
Angie and her family headed home, because the baby was up way past her bedtime and she was getting pretty unhappy about it. Matthew and the kids and I stayed though, and headed off on a moonlit hayride:
The kids were just a little bit excited about it:
We got back from the hayride just as they were lighting the bon fire! It started out very small:
Then got bigger and bigger as the farmer walked around tossing kerosene on the pile of pallets:
All of a sudden, the fire was HUGE and people had to back up because of the intense heat coming off of it. You can see how big it is by comparing the size of the people in this picture:
Pretty amazing! Fire is so hypnotizing to watch, I felt like I could have sat there for hours meditating on the sound of the crackling flames:
Lots of people felt the same way, there was a great big crowd hanging around the bonfire:
Pictures of my family by the firelight:
This will definitely be our last visit to Kruger's this year, and possibly, our last visit ever (more on that soon). We cherish the memories that we have made there, and the times we have spent sharing it with friends and the ones we love. Hooray for another wonderful season on the farm!
But even if we aren't celebrating the holiday with our usual festive flair, I was determined not to completely cheat my kids out of the pumpkin picking experience. It simply isn't the same to pick out your pumpkin from the local grocery store - if there isn't mud, hayrides and animals, I say it doesn't count. So this was the perfect opportunity to get more bang for our pumpkin patching buck, and we were all pretty excited to be there. We loaded up on the hayride first:
I cant get over how grown up the kids look in this picture, especially Killian!
It was a beautiful day and the hayride took us really far out to fields that we had never been to before. We got a great view of the farm from there - you can see the big red main store to the right, and the little white tents to the left were near where the bonfire would be later than night.
There were a bazillion pumpkins to choose from!
The perfect pumpkin hunters:
Matthew, Killian and I all found our pumpkins relatively quickly, but it took Rowan a little longer to find the pumpkin that spoke to her. She finally found it in a far off corner of the field, and it was so wonderful that we had to stop right there and pose for a picture with it:
Four little pumpkins, all in a row:
We rode the hayride back to the barn, and met up with our wonderful friends Angie and Brett. The kids were thrilled to see their buddy Catie, and they ran off to play and explore the fields of flowers together. Its so hard to find a friendship like the one we have with them, and I am thankful everyday for their presence in our lives and all the love and happiness they bring to it.
A blurry picture of us grown ups:
We enjoyed a picnic dinner together, and hung out chatting until it got dark. The kids occupied themselves by playing with all the flowers they were finding on the ground, and by climbing nearby trees. Killian went over to say hi to the girls while they were up in one tree, they told him that they were pretending to be marsupials. These girls are so cute!
Angie and her family headed home, because the baby was up way past her bedtime and she was getting pretty unhappy about it. Matthew and the kids and I stayed though, and headed off on a moonlit hayride:
The kids were just a little bit excited about it:
We got back from the hayride just as they were lighting the bon fire! It started out very small:
Then got bigger and bigger as the farmer walked around tossing kerosene on the pile of pallets:
All of a sudden, the fire was HUGE and people had to back up because of the intense heat coming off of it. You can see how big it is by comparing the size of the people in this picture:
Pretty amazing! Fire is so hypnotizing to watch, I felt like I could have sat there for hours meditating on the sound of the crackling flames:
Lots of people felt the same way, there was a great big crowd hanging around the bonfire:
Pictures of my family by the firelight:
This will definitely be our last visit to Kruger's this year, and possibly, our last visit ever (more on that soon). We cherish the memories that we have made there, and the times we have spent sharing it with friends and the ones we love. Hooray for another wonderful season on the farm!