Gigi came over today to spend some quality time with the kids. Since we thought it would be a fun treat, we surprised the kids and went to the Pumpkin Patch. Caiden was really enthusiastic. Kiya SAID she was...until we got there then I think she was just hot and tired.
The pumpkin patch itself was amazing!! It was HUGE! They had a corn maze, sunflower section, HUGE area where you could go out and pick your own pumpkins, a gift shop, petting zoo, plethora of bounce houses, tractor rides, hay rides, John Deere rides for the kids, Cafe, food stands, and I could go on and ON!!!
Here are some people picking their own pumpkins
One of the many tractors
Lots of different kinds and colors of pumpkins, gourds, etc..
Some bright and some bubbly...
They had cute decorations and areas to take pictures
And a cornfield maze (frankly I have no sense of direction and neither does my mom, so we opted NOT to do this this time).
It was SUPER hot so we stayed as long as we could. Kiya was NOT in the mood as she was tired, hot and don't forget, we are potty training her so I'm sure that was loads of fun for her. We first thought we would take some pictures, but Kiya was tired and that didn't go over too well. **On a side note for those of you that were wondering. Yes I dyed my hair dark brown. I thought "why must blondes have all the fun, I'm gonna switch it up". :)**
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Ok, I fully admit that I went a little overboard on posting pictures, but frankly its so rare that I get to take pictures like this with and of the kids :) I couldn't help but post so many. I wonder if there is a 12 step program for this type of problem? Well if you can always use that nifty scroll bar and scroll through them really quickly :)
Gigi and the kids on our arrival. Notice Kiya is already tired
Here is Kiya protesting taking this picture
Although later she did calm down enough to snap a few, but no smiles
Caiden, Kiya and myself
Not sure what's with our expressions, but whatever :)
The corn was about his height, the plant much taller
We tried for a corn picture, but this was about all we got
Caiden was a trooper and posed for pictures with me :)
Here he was tickling himself to make himself laugh so he would have a more "natural" smile hehe
Notice he is still trying to tickle himself 
I kinda like this picture :) My boy is so handsome :)
Kiya took a liking to the sunflowers
She is unsure if she wants to participate, so she is testing it out :)
Kiya smells with her lips...it kinda looks like she is kissing the flower
And now she is examining it
This was the look we got most of the day
Next Caiden played in the bounce houses, and then we decided to go in the shade for a little while and turned corn and gourds into musical instruments. That was Kiya's first smile.
Tickets in hand, Caiden watched the sand drain so he knew when it was his turn
Caiden showing us the different pumpkins
Kiya holding my hand
And this is where Gigi and Caiden made music with the gourds. He loved it
And Kiya joined in with her musical corn
Next we went into the petting zoo which really consisted of goats and sheep. Kiya was INTENT on feeding the goats and sheep and was very aggressive about it, holding the cup of food and running around after the animals. It was very cute, especially as she would take one kernel of food out and hand it to the animal, or shove the cup in the face of an animal who was cleaning itself.
Goat way up high
Close up of the goat
Kiya contemplates her strategy
She befriends a goat
And shares. She made sure each goat got some
This one was cleaning itself and Kiya shoved the cup in its mouth. It did eat though
She would put one kernel of food in the hay at a time...
Now she started touching the sheep...so cute
This is the point where I asked Kiya if she had to go potty. She said no. I said are you sure...so she checked. Notice the hand down her pants.Caiden took a more laid back approach and allowed animals to come to him. He would go to the animals too, but if other kids wanted to feed them as well, he would back off and share. So sweet :)
Caiden is so gentle. He was very sweet with the animals. Very calm. I just love this boy!!
Caiden showing the other little boy how to feed the animals
The animals themselves would regularly stampede partly because there was some neurotic kid chasing them, and partly because I think they wanted away from the kids hounding them. I got taken out by one of the stampedes, and Kiya got clipped in the head by a goat who jumped over her. After that I would position myself around Kiya and then brace myself for impact...those things were crazy. Caiden was smart and stayed away from the stampede :)
These darn animals would randomly stampede
This was my view right before I landed on my butt. They totally took me out!!
It was fun, but waaaaay too hot, and since Kiya was having a slow meltdown we felt it best to go and come back another day.
Since it's that time of year and Caiden has been home sick, we thought it would be fun to cheer him up by carving a pumpkin...an alien pumpkin that is (that's what he wanted to do).
Kiya and I taking out the innards (Caiden was still eating his dinner)
Kiya getting her hands dirty
Of course we have to use our senses and smell and feel the pumpkin seeds
Kiya and Dave inspecting the pumpkin before carving
Dave making the first cuts
They are all engrossed in the pumpkin...just for different reasons
Caiden is looking at his sliver of pumpkin, Dave's still carving and Kiya's ready to put the cap on
Caiden kept calling this his "pumpkin eye"
Getting her hands dirty
And of course she had to make sure it was edible
This was Kiya when she looked at the pumpkin and we turned the lights off...hehe
Both kids watching the pumpkin glow...my flash is bright the lights were OFF
Kiya made this pumpkin
