20 Hours - The Pumpkin Patch

Scott came home Tuesday morning at 10:00.  He left Wednesday morning at 6:00 for two days of meetings in Chicago.  That left us with him for just 20 hours.  He had planned on a longer layover at home, but with the weather delays in Alaska, he ended up being home for less than a day.  So we tried to make the most of it.

He had spent the night on an airplane, so I knew he was tired.  So when Kate went down for a nap that day, I took Owen out with me to do grocery shopping, and left Scott home in a quiet house to sleep.  I got home from shopping just as the kids were getting home from school.  I fed them a quick sandwich, and we headed out as a family to have an evening of fun at the Pumpkin Patch.

We were happy to find out we had gone on 2 for Tuesday, so our family got in for half the price it would have been on another night.  That was a tender mercy.   

The kids had fun playing in the playground area.

 
Savannah was a huge help with Kate all evening.

The kids love the cow train.

 

This gunny sack slide was new this year.  The kids went down it many times.

While the kids went down the slide, this cute girl enjoyed being outdoors.

 

Back to the cow train, this time with Mom while the boys tried out Friendly Fire.

 But the Friendly Fire wasn't as friendly as Owen had hoped for.  Josh and Aaron loved it, but Owen wasn't a fan of getting hit with foam Nerf balls.  In case you can't see it through the net, he was crying the whole time.

Sara enjoying some popcorn...

Kate loved looking at the animals in the petting zoo.

The kids tried out the pumpkin cannon.

The Grain Train.  Owen was not happy, but I suggested he move up near the tractor, and he cheered up instantly. 

 

 

Eating popcorn, and getting warm around the fire while Dad bought mini donuts for us to share.

We ended the night with the mechanical bull.  This cost extra, but we figured with half priced admission, we could splurge a little bit on this.  This was all Aaron talked about doing the whole time we were there.  The first picture we took of our family, Aaron had his head down pouting, because he didn't want to stand for a picture, he wanted to go ride the bull.  So, finally, after his unrelenting begging all night, we did the bull.  Aaron loved it. 

When Sara saw how much fun Aaron had riding, she decided she wanted to do it too.  We tried to talk Josh and Savannah into it, but they decided they'd pass this time. 

It was the perfect night, all of us back together as a family.  Everyone behaved, the weather was perfect, it was just so wonderful.  And for a few hours we forgot that Scott would be gone again when we woke up the next morning.