2012 Visit to Vala's Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday was a fabulous day. It was a Sunday, Chris and I were both at home (either he is gone or I am working on weekends, it seems) and I had a Living Social Pass to Vala's Pumpkin Patch!

We arrived about 9:45 in the morning. A fair amount of people were there already (they open at 9), but we were able to park pretty close to the front. We checked in and the fun began!

Vala's is such a wonderful fall tradition. We no longer visit the other pumpkin patches in the area as none of them really compare (and they are all expensive!). Last year we made several trips to Vala's, but this year we plan on only going this once.

After the annual, "How tall this fall?" picture, the kids led the way to their favorite attractions. At first, it was cold, then it warmed up. At one point, the kids and I were stripping off our clothes. I ended the day with a sunburn on my forehead (my sunscreen clearly did not make it through the day). It was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch.

Kids' Favorites:
Asher: Jumping Pillows, big slides, pig races, and playing in the corn.
Addison: Jumping pillows, trikes, big slides, playing in the giant corn box (like a sand box but with corn) and the school house.
Alivia: Jumping pillows, kettle corn, pedal car ride with Mommy (Where we ate Daddy's dust! That was harder than it looked!).
Chris: Kettle Corn
Me: I love it all, but I liked the dog show and the jumping pillow best. Fun time!

Grandma Bet and Grandpa Bill made their very first visit to Vala's meeting up with us in the afternoon. We have wanted them to join us for years, so we were glad they were able to make it. Going to Vala's is definitely a fall experience you will never forget. Vala's has so much to do and see, from seeing the goats and the big ox, riding slides coming out of barns, pig races, watching a dragon eat pumpkins, tractor wagon rides, storybook village, the jumping pillows, playing in the corn box and then there is the endless supply of expensive food! Hotdogs are almost $7 each!! That is completely nuts! The only thing I wished is that we brought more to drink. I brought the kids each their own drink cups that they refilled with water. But, I only brought one tea for me and I forgot to bring Chris ANYTHING (oops! I really felt bad! But, he survived with the help of $2.50 soda). There food is seriously overpriced. Their entry fee is enough as it is that they should not be pricing their food at the level of Disney. It is not Disney afterall.

Anyway, we had a fabulous time and made memories to last a lifetime. We see how the kids grow up more from our annual visits to the pumpkin patch. Alivia was about 18 months old when we first started visiting Vala's. Crazy how time flies.

Going to Vala's?
Bring
*water bottle filled, but can be refilled
* wet wipes
* lunch at least
* snacks
* dress in layers of clothes
* comfortable shoes that you do not mind getting dirty. It is a farm after all.
* socks, so that you can jump on the jumping pillows with socks on.
* Your camera, to capture all the fun and memories
* Money. Believe me, you will need a lot to buy anything.
Have fun!


Until next year...we will enjoy the pictures and the memories...

 Jumping on the jumping pillows! These things are awesome!

Duck races

Gangnam Style!

Tic Tac Toe with Toilet seats as O's anyone? Asher won, he was toilet seats. :)

Vala's ROCKS!

Such a sweet little face!

Lens Envy? This one is for Courtney! :)

White and Black Dogs can Jump! This dog show was amazing!

Dog Kisses

Girls Day Out to Mahoney!

iPad photo taken inside the indoor playground

We most certainly could not just sit at home while the boys went out and had fun, right? Addison was beside herself that she could not go to the airshow with Daddy and Asher. She did not want to go until they were leaving, then she was quite mad that she was not invited.

However, the girls did not like the noise and were quite disinterested the last time we attended the air show. Remember the 2009 air show? Alivia, this year, said she was NOT GOING! So, we decided to make a girls day out of it.

Where to go, what to do?

How about Mahoney? Alivia took her 7th birthday party to the Mahoney indoor playground and we had not been there since. It is only $2 per person (plus your state park parking fee which is $5 a day or $25 a calendar year), which is priced right for hours of play. However, I do not like going there in the winter months. I'm sure they do not clean the tubes to my standards (if at all), and this freaks me out a bit. The $2 may be more than I want to spend for weeks of colds and flu symptoms if we go during the winter. But, it is summer...so we were okay. The germs are still there, but hopefully nothing that can cause too much harm, right?

Luckily, the kids do not care. We arrived at 11:30 and they played until 2:30. It got really loud in there at 2, causing me to have some ear damage. But, the girls had a blast. They do not allow outside food or drink inside, but I did bring the girls a water bottle, fruit and yogurt. It beats the unhealthy food they have at the concession stand. Sorry.

We then drove over to the observation tower to see the views from 70 feet up. Alivia ran up the stairs reaching the top in record time. Addison, on the other hand, just could not make it to the top. So, we went back down. Alivia thought it was pretty cool, though.

We stopped to see the horses before calling it a day. We could have spent all day at Mahoney, but we will save some things for next time. The girls were wiped.

See, girls can have fun, too!

Offutt Air Show: A Boys Day Out

Chris and Asher took a boys day out to go to the Offutt Air Force Base Air Show on yesterday. Asher woke us up at 7 am asking, "Do we get to go to the airshow today?" He was so excited!

The boys arrived right at 9 am to begin to check out the airplanes. Asher has airplanes in his blood, so Chris says. My Dad is a private pilot and a builder of an airplane (Now how many people can say that?! It is one thing to fly an airplane, but it is a whole other story to be able to build one!). Chris is a private pilot, too. And, Asher's middle name is Wade, after my cousin who was a pilot and commercial helicopter crop duster (and city sprayer, too, as I know he sprayed around cities a time or two. He was quite the entrepreneur building up a million dollar plus successful business before his untimely death at the age of 33). Lucky for Chris, Asher loves airplanes too and says he wants to be a pilot (and a cowboy) when he grows up. We will see about that (at least the cowboy).

The boys started with the kids zone. Asher loved the bouncers they had there this year as well as the pedal planes. I guess they were really cool pedal planes, too! They walked around and looked at the airplanes on display, finding their second love, a jeep! (Asher has a large collection of airplanes, helicopters and now jeeps). They had plenty to eat, too, splurging on kettle corn, hot dogs and even a soda! That is what I call spoiled for a day. They sat down and watched the airplanes. I do believe Asher was impressed. The boys called it a day before the end of the show so they could get out of base in a timely fashion (having parked on base).

Asher was so excited to show me the new airplane he got, as well as a Frisbee, a ball, and a certificate saying he was a pedal plane pilot. They had a fun boys day out. They will have to have these male bonding days more often.