As promised, here is a look at the fall activities we did as a family in 2018. We started off with a field trip to Tate Farms on October 22nd. This was the field trip for all the kindergartners at Mill Creek, and Brooklyn was really excited about it. Every fall, we usually try to go to Lyon Family Farms, the pumpkin patch/farm in Tennessee, but when we found out about this field trip, we decided to just make that our family’s pumpkin patch outing for the year instead.
This was Brooklyn’s first time ever to ride the bus. I think she was just as excited about riding the bus as she was about the field trip itself ;)
It was a little chilly when we first got there, but it warmed up over the course of the morning and turned into a beautiful, sunny day! As a sidenote, I was so glad we brought our new double jogging stroller. It was perfect for pushing over the gravel and uneven terrain.
Because this was our first school field trip (since Travis and I were little kids…haha), I was curious how things would go while we were there. I pictured mass chaos with kids running everywhere. Mill Creek has TEN kindergarten classes, plus there were kids from other schools there that day as well. But, everything was really well organized. Each class of kids had their own guide for the morning, and so the classes were all doing different activities at different times. Mrs. Patterson’s class started out at the petting zoo!
Several other kids from Mrs. Patterson’s class had a parent there, but we were the only ones who brought younger siblings along. I was proud of Savannah (in the light blue coat) for stepping right up with the big kids and not being scared!
There was even a little calf there whose name was Savannah! :)
Brooklyn really enjoyed seeing all the animals…she has been an animal lover since she was a baby! She especially loved petting the bunny rabbit.
Next, it was time for the jumping pillows. It was so funny to watch Brooklyn and all her classmates up there jumping and having a blast. Savannah fell down about as many times as she was able to stand up and jump, but she was loving it!
After the jumping session was over, we watched a short video about cotton…
…and Mrs. Patterson got to hold Miss Abigail for a few minutes!
She’s at the stage where she will sometimes cry if a stranger tries to pick her up, but she didn’t mind Mrs. Patterson that day :)
Next, it was time to play on the big playground!
Wheeeee!
This picture captures Brooklyn perfectly. Her excitement and joy are contagious, and she is always racing off to do the next fun activity. I just wish she would share some of her energy with me!
Savannah really enjoyed the tire swing that day :)
After we left the playground, we did a short maze. I didn’t get many pictures because I was trying to help Savannah find our way out of it!
Time for the corn crib!
It’s always fun to get buried in a pile of corn :)
Sidenote: I was finding corn all over our house for the next few days after this trip. Abigail even ate a few pieces before I realized what it was…haha
Brooklyn was having a blast!
Next, it was time for a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch!
Everyone got to pick out their own pumpkin, even the grownups…so we took home 4 pumpkins that day…
Thankfully, they were kid-sized pumpkins and not huge ones :)
Cheese!
By this point, it was lunchtime and everyone was getting hungry! This was the only part that was a little chaotic because we ran out of space at our table, and we were trying to feed Savannah and Abigail while eating our own lunches too. But, it worked out fine! After lunch, Mrs. Patterson had to get everyone ready to get back on the bus and head back to the school. We decided to check Brooklyn out like many of the other parents did, and so we actually stuck around and let the girls play for a while before we headed home.
They wanted to play in the corn crib for a few more minutes, so we did that first. This time, we let Abigail give it a try too!
She wasn’t a big fan…haha! Maybe next year will be different ;)
So much space for just the two of them!
We went back to the playground…
…and did a little swinging :)
We also ran into Bristol, one of Brooklyn’s new friends from our neighborhood. She lives just a few houses down from us and walks home in the afternoons with her mom and sisters. She is in kindergarten too but in a different class :)
Savannah and Daddy went down the slide together :)
Of course, we had to pet the bunny again! It was nice because at this point, we almost had the whole place to ourselves except for a few other families. We were really glad we got to stay for a while after the buses left!
The girls wanted to jump for a few minutes before we left, so we headed over there.
Even Mommy and Daddy got up there and jumped :)
Wheeee!
We couldn’t have asked for a better first school field trip experience. We all had a great time, and I was so glad Travis was able to come with us too.
We were worn out that afternoon, but it was worth it for the fun memories we made together :)
“Mommy’s Little Pumpkin” :)
All 3 of my pumpkins got to wear this outfit, which is really neat. Can you tell who’s who?
Mrs. Patterson’s class did “pumpkin investigations” on October 26th.
Looked like a slimy but fun time!
That afternoon, Brooklyn and Savannah got busy painting our pumpkins from the field trip. They had fun with it, and it was much easier than carving! :)
Here they are with their finished masterpieces!
This year, Halloween fell on a Wednesday night (when we always go to Bible class). I’ll admit that I was pretty bummed about that since I’ve heard our neighborhood is great for trick-or-treating. I knew that there would be no way to trick-or-treat and be finished in time to get to church (not to mention the fact that Travis was out of town on Halloween), so we did all of our Halloween activities on the Saturday prior to Halloween (October 27th). Before we left the house, I had to get pictures of everyone in our costumes :)
I found Brooklyn’s Clifford costume at Kids Market. It was really cute, but the head wouldn’t stay up very well, and I didn’t realize it until that day…
Savannah was a snowman! This costume was one that Rae Rae had bought a couple of years ago when Brooklyn was younger, and Brooklyn never ended up wearing it.
She was so cute!
….and Abigail was the sweetest little strawberry! It doesn’t get any cuter!
Travis and I had to dress up for the Halloween party at the Hesters’ house (everyone was required to dress up!). I hate spending money on costumes (I’m so cheap!), so we didn’t do anything too exciting. I was a “copycat”—Travis already had the shirt, so the only thing we had to buy was the headband.
Travis was a nerdy engineer! :) I was dying at his pants all afternoon and evening. He stuffed about 12 pens in his pocket and put gel in his hair. I think he secretly had fun with it ;)
Our first stop once we got our costumes on was the Trunk or Treat at Legacy Elementary. Legacy is the school Brooklyn would have gone to if we’d stayed in our old house. It’s a great school where many of our friends’ kids go. We were excited to go to their trunk or treat since we wouldn’t be doing traditional trick-or-treating this year. Savannah fell asleep on the way there and got a bit of a catnap before we got out of the car.
Abigail was just happy to be along for the ride!
The girls were so excited!!
There were a ton of people there, and we had to wait a while just to get started around the track. I was glad we’d brought the stroller and didn’t try to carry Abigail the whole time.
Some of the “trunks” had activities for the kids. Brooklyn tried to lasso a horse!
Wanted!
Travis was slightly embarrassed to be dressed in his nerd costume while we were there. People could tell I was dressed up, but I think they all thought he was just a major dork! Ha!
We were excited to see Mrs. Gena at the end of the track. She’s a 5th grade teacher at Legacy and was there passing out candy with some of the other teachers. The girls had fun and got a ton of candy!
Our second and final stop of the day was the Halloween party at the Hesters’ house. I think we’d missed the last couple of Halloween parties at their house because we went to Trussville for Halloween for several years in a row. We were excited to attend this year!
I enjoyed seeing everyone’s costumes…some people are really creative and put a lot of effort into it!
It took her forever, but Savannah finally ate her whole hot dog :)
I loved Leslie’s jellyfish costume!
Brooklyn had given up on her Clifford head by this point ;)
Savannah adores Rachel, so I had to get their picture together :)
The kids “trick-or-treated” toward the end of the night, and their buckets were really overflowing after that. We STILL haven’t eaten all the candy they got that day…
I was cracking up at the kids hiding under the trampoline and eating as much candy as they could :)
It was a great night!
On Halloween itself, we went to storytime at the Monrovia library…
…and geared up to pass out candy for a few minutes that night before leaving for Bible class. I had the kids fed and dressed super early because I was hoping we would get trick-or-treaters early in the evening. Brooklyn and Savannah were SO excited to pass out candy and kept a close lookout at the front door. They would see people outside and start SCREAMING and jumping up and down. They may have scared away all the kids because no one rang the doorbell until like 6:10 PM, and we had to leave the house 15 minutes later :( They got to pass out a little candy, but we ended up leaving most of it in a bowl on the front porch.
Abigail was wondering what all the commotion was about ;)Â We had a great fall and Halloween last year! It’s definitely one of my favorite times of the year.
