Pumpkins and Bouncy Houses and Zombie Shooting!

I try to hit a lot of the local pumpkin farms with my boys each fall, usually on Saturdays while Greg is working. I've been to a ton of different farms, and each one is a unique experience for the boys. A few weeks back, before it got so cold, I took the boys to Siegel's Cottonwood Farm, a new destination for us. We were joined by my friend Lynn and her son Aidan.

Like I said, we've been to many pumpkin farms, and every one has something different. This was the first spiderweb I've seen, and the boys got a kick out of climbing it and making spider noises. I don't know what spider noises are--to me, it sounded like they were growling. 

Like many pumpkin farms, this one had apple cider donuts. Not that I'm a connoisseur, but these seemed rather dry to me. Nick and Henry ate them all, though. 

A hayride was also a part of this farm, and Henry liked looking up at the tractor. Nick had fun, too, but refused to be in our picture. He's getting a little stubborn about things like that. 

Nick thinks that his friend Aidan (who is two years older) is about the coolest guy on Earth. Nick and Henry wanted to do everything that Aidan did, especially this "zombie-shooting" game. It involved paintball guns, which fascinated the kids.

I had to help with their aim, and we actually hit a few garbage can lids. I found those more satisfying to hit than the zombies, because of the "clunking" sound the paint balls made. 

There was also an obstacle course, and I was astounded at Henry's dexterity. For a two-year-old, I couldn't believe he ran the whole course three separate times. 

Nick did a great job, too, but he zoomed past too quickly for me to snap any pictures. Henry loved army-crawling up this squishy ladder. The attendant was cheering him on. 

After all the climbing and bouncing, we visited the little train. 

You can't go wrong with a kiddie train and some mildly scary Halloween decorations. 

This was a farm, and the boys had a chance to interact with some farm animals. Henry was a little unsure about the goats. I think the goats were equally cautious. 

Nick was understandably cautious about touching the animals once I read him the signs saying "I bite." 

Henry decided to pet some animals anyway. This little guy didn't seem to mind. 

My friend Lynn was very correct to suggest that we leave early. We'd known it was going to thunderstorm, but the forecasts were predicting a later storm. A light drizzle started coming down while we were at the pumpkins. Right after I snapped this picture, we had to run for the van. We got there only mildly wet, but it started pouring once we were all in the van. Just in time. 

My kids crack me up. This was our attempted group shot. Henry's got his tongue sticking out, I'm not sure what Nick was doing, and I was laughing at Nick.