Pumpkin Patch Puzzling

Before Christmas hits, I have some major back-blogging to finish. 

In October, we took a co-op field trip to the nearby pumpkin patch. This year, we opted not to arrange an official field trip so we were able to move between areas according to our own pace and preference.

We've had a string of good luck in our pumpkin patch adventures, somehow managing to catch sunny days.

I'm not quite sure what the appeal is about water pumps, but my kids always love them. Maybe they were born in the wrong century (although something tells me the allure is in the novelty)?

The corn pit is always a highlight.

The kids enjoyed crawling on the hay bales and sliding down the slides. Aubree got sick of having to carry Nellie up the hay steps because Nell wanted to slide, slide, slide.

Some of the other co-op girls, Kylee and Audrey, stepped in to help. Told you Nellie is spoiled!

This year we also got tickets to do the corn maze. It's something we've never done with our kids before, and we figured they were now old enough to enjoy the challenge. When we saw the maps at the start of the maze, we kept walking, thinking that using the maps would be cheating.

Initially, we just followed wherever the kids led, letting them have a true corn maze experience. When that eventually led us back to the beginning of the maze, we headed back in, this time with the determination to try the "keep your right hand on the edge at all times" method, still with no map. Pride leadeth to the fall.

When a significant amount of time passed and we still seemed no closer to finding the exit, we found someone who would share their map. That should've helped, but didn't. We were totally and legitimately lost. The kids were out of stamina. We'd passed lunch time. Our feet hurt from tramping around in rain boots. I was worried about missing our afternoon appointments. Finally, we found our way back to the beginning again. That was good enough for us!We learned our lesson. Next time we'll start with the map!