Fall has arrived

Folks, we’ve got big news. The water coming out of the tap is….COLD! Yes, we are as shocked and relieved as you. We thought the summer would never end. That is not to say that the hot weather is gone. The 100s are gone, but we still get into the upper 90s most days. But still, that is such a relief from the continuous heat. The kids and I bade fall break farewell by visiting a pumpkin patch in north Mesa. Yeah, I didn’t realize how far away it was when I bought the Groupon. It took like 30 minutes to drive there! Sheesh. But it was really fun and well worth the trip. If it were closer I’d make this an annual tradition. We’ll have to stick to a pumpkin patch closer to home next time.

Amazingly, they all looked through this thing and smiled. For a few seconds while I fumbled for my cell phone. Yes, I forgot to grab my camera (forehead smack). Thankfully I got a few cell phone pics before the battery died (just my luck).

Bounce houses are always a favorite of ours. Emily tried it for 3 seconds then decided she wanted off. My kids jumped for a while, then got out to get slathered with sunscreen (I DID remember that). As we were lotioning up, the bounce house motor thingy ran out of gas and it collapsed! Really quickly. The kids still inside were like, “hey, what’s happening!?” and a bunch of adults ran over to help them out. It was hilarious but my kids were very concerned for the ones left behind. I pointed out that they would be safe and then tried to help them see the humor in the situation. In reality if my kids were in there and it collapsed, they would probably freak out and scream. That would not have been so hilarious.

Pony rides! They chose the smallest, cutest little pony. Emily wasn’t such a big fan, and was more entertained by putting a penny in and out of her pocket than by the fact that she was riding a horse. No picture of her because I had to hold her on while she rode.

 

Natalie looks almost too big for this pony! lol

They also had this cute little hay bale maze set up. The kids got a kick out of it. Even Emily walked around and around. I could tell she felt like one of the big kids.

 

Barrel train. I plopped Emily down in one by herself and they drove off before I realized, hey, she’s all alone in her little car. What if she starts crying? What if she bonks her head? My baby! I should have put her in the car with Natalie. They went down this little road barely out of my sight but I was so worried! But all was good. They returned with smiling, dusty little faces.

Here is Emily running through this huge tire half buried in the ground. There were several in a row to play around with.

After we had our fill of previously mentioned activities, we hopped on a hay ride that took us down to a little petting zoo. It was fun as all petting zoos are, but the coolest thing was this peacock in the tree. It was so beautiful! The kids were more interested in the incredibly soft little bunny. Natalie held it but it scratched her arm as it was trying to escape her grasp. She was about to be sad, but then I was like, “wow! A real bunny scratch! What a cool story to go along with that owie!” and then she was all proud. It’s all about the reaction, folks.

Anyway, after we petted all the animals and washed our hands (with real soap and water set out for our use, isn’t that nice?) we got back on the hay ride and went a little further down the road to the “pumpkin patch.” It was as much of a pumpkin patch as the local grocery store is, but the kids thought it was neat. The big girls each picked out a small pumpkin (for the same price as a grocery store big pumpkin, sheesh) and took it back to the original area to decorate with stickers and paint.

They had a really good time and before we knew it, we had been there for over two hours! We were covered in dirt and other unpleasant outdoor/animal stuff but raced home to get dinner fixed for the sister missionaries. Whew. The timing worked out perfectly even though we got red lights the whole way home. I was praying for greens because we were running late, but Heavenly Father must have known that I would be able to get it done even with red lights and sure enough, I was. Lesson in trusting in the Lord’s timing.

Hooray for Fall. Next up, Halloween!