Pumpkin Patch 2012

Still no dramatic updates. Our life is waiting, waiting, waiting, at least for the next couple weeks.

BUT our latest update is that Ashlyn FINALLY got to go to the pumpkin patch again. This little girl LOVED it last year and talked about going back all year long (I'm not joking.). For months she has been asking us if it was open yet. For someone who was 2 years old the last time we went, her little mind sure clung to that memory. So we finally got to go earlier this month, and it did not disappoint .. she is already asking to go back.


We went on a perfect day. Beautiful weather. Not many people were there, so our little Ashlyn had free reign. We started off playing on the hay pile:

This was her absolute favorite.

Then we played in the sand pit:

This was her second favorite.

 She told me that she loved playing in the hay and sand because she loves to get dirty. You can see the hay stuck to her clothes, and everywhere she ran for the whole visit there was a little trail of hay falling off of her, like pigpen on charlie brown (except hay, not dirt...).




She was brave this year and played in the hay tunnel:

Had fun on the teeter-totter:

Cute homemade style teeter-totters

and the water pumps:

Pumping water to make the rubber duckys race.

I got her to stop long enough to take a picture with...the Purdue Pig? ....yeah, I dunno...

Then it was back to the hay stack:

One of my favorite pictures.

 Ashlyn kept trying to get me to come play with her on the hay stack, but I made Justin go in. I wasn't sure if I got into the hay stack that I could drag my 9-month-pregnant-self out.




Then we went back to the sand pit....again...

Showing us how big she is this year.
Unfortunately I don't think they had this last year so I have no comparison picture.
 (Does anyone else think the pumpkin is a little creepy, staring at her like that??? I just noticed that.)

I was the only one interested in going to the corn maze part of the pumpkin patch (mainly because we had to pay adult admission to this place, and the only adult attraction was the corn maze.) So we hopped onto the the hay ride/tractor ride and went off to the corn maze:

It was hard to get her away from the hay stack, but it didn't take her long to get over it.

I thought Ashlyn would have fun telling us which way to run, but she didn't care for it much, and made daddy carry her around:

We also went to the pumpkin part of the Pumpkin patch (imagine that...)

Pulling our wagon. She didn't care for the pumpkins either, she just wanted to pull the wagon.

Except these pumpkins....she liked these ones.

And then of course, it was back to the hay stack until it started getting dark. We had tons of fun. Its a toss up as to who was worn out the most...the constantly running toddler, the 9-month pregnant mommy, or the diligent daddy who had to take care of both of them. She is already planning her return trip...wanting to show grandma Junice the big pumpkins and her baby sister how to play in the hay. We might be able to make it one more time this season, depending on when this baby sister makes her appearance and if the weather holds out. But I am SO glad we were able to go before things got too crazy. The smiles from this little girl make the aching back totally worth it: