Pumpkins, hayrides, and games

We have apparently made it our mission to hit every fall festival and pumpkin patch within a 10 mile radius of our house...which doesn't seem like a lot, but it has kept us busy, and there seem to be enough planned to get us almost to Thanksgiving :).

Em has been talking about riding a horse for months--when she was in Gateway, we passed by a horse farm on our way to and from school every day.  It was on a back road, and I'd slow way down or sometimes stop completely so she could see the horses.  She would talk about them nonstop--picking out the one she wanted to ride, and talking about everyone else who would ride with her.  So when we got to this festival and saw the pony rides, we headed straight there.

She picked out the black horse, and has now decided she needs a helmet of her own.

This was a pumpkin patch near her school, and has been the most fun so far.  Emily loved picking out pumpkin after pumpkin--they give you a wagon to carry the pumpkins, and she literally wanted to keep every one she picked out.

It really felt like fall that morning, so we all had to wear jackets.

We've got to do better at getting all three of us in pictures once in a while!

There was a musical hayride with a scavenger hunt along the way--Em loved finding all the witches, ghosts and other Halloween stuff.

But this was her favorite--these bouncing balls were hilarious.  She must have fallen off a dozen times, and kept getting back on.  At one point, I tried to lure her back to our wagon by telling her the pumpkins were waiting on her.  She turned her ball around and yelled "I'm coming pumpkins...I'm just gonna bounce to you!"  The things she says crack me up.

There was a huge sand box with toys and shovels, and Em wasted no time taking her shoes off and jumping right in.

She is crazy about popcorn now, so she was so excited to spend her dollar and have her very own bag.  She didn't come close to eating all of it, but she was very proud to carry the bag around and pick out the "fluffy white pieces."

There were two corn mazes--we chose the shorter kid-friendly one because we weren't sure Em would have the patience for the huge one.

We had so much fun--we may end up going back before the season is over.