The Pumpkin Patch

We had a fairly nice day as far as the weather goes on Saturday and Danny had the day off, so we went to a pumpkin patch about 15 miles outside of Des Moines. We started off with the hayride out to the pumpkins.

Once we got to the pumpkin patch, we were allowed to get off of the wagon and wander around to pick out a pumpkin. Below, you can see the first pumpkin that Alyssa picked out sitting up on the wagon (to the right of Danny and Alyssa).
And here is Alyssa's second choice. She had a hard time walking through the thick brush so Danny needed to hold on to her.
And here is Ashley enjoying the pumpkin patch (or rather me taking a quick picture before she could get anything into her mouth).
After the hayride, we borrowed a wagon to pull our 17 and 21 pound pumpkins around. Alyssa wanted to help.And so did Ashley.

Alyssa got tired after a few feet of pulling and had to take a rest.

There were many other things to do at the pumpkin patch besides getting your pumpkins. Below is a hay bale maze that Alyssa probably went through at least 10 times.

We didn't get it caught on camera, but by the 6th or 7th time through, she started taking her time going through and she would stop and sit on every hay bale that she could throughout the maze. Here is a nice close up picture of her in the maze.
Here she is coming out of the tunnel at the end of the maze.
They also had some inflatable rides which she also did each one about 10 times. This caterpillar had a lump in the middle that she had to climb up and slide down while inside. Because of this, we had an older boy help her through it the first time. But after that, she went all on her own. And every kid loves the bounce house. She is a lot better at doing these now than she was on New Years Eve. That was the last time she had the chance to go in one.
Here is Ashley chillin with the pumpkins and hay. And yes, she did manage to put something in her mouth before I could take the picture (By the way, these aren't our pumkins, they were inside of a gazebo there set up for decoration). And this is what happens when you ask a stranger to take a picture for you. You can almost see us in the picture below.
We had a lot of fun and Alyssa cried a lot when we had to leave. She has asked to go back to the pumpkin patch a few times since then.

On a totally different note, just to follow up on our last post, Danny filled up for $2.35 a gallon today. We still can't believe how much gas prices have dropped in the last two weeks.