Birthday Weekend

Parent-teacher conferences mean a 4 day weekend for the elementary school kids.  On Thursday we had conferences in the morning and then we went to lunch (see previous post) and then did some browsing at Target.  (I was trying to figure out what to get Finn for his birthday! And having the other kids point out what they liked is also helpful for the upcoming Christmas season.)  On Friday we headed to Anderson Farm in Eerie, Colorado for their fall festival.  One of my friends is an admitted Pumpkin Patch addict and has raved about this patch and I really wanted to check it out.

It's funny how a drive can seem so much longer when you don't know exactly where you are going.  It sure seemed like a long drive to get there, but in reality it took about an hour and twenty minutes (which isn't bad for the north side of Denver).  I was hoping to get there right as it opened to avoid crowds, but ended up there about an hour later.  And it became very apparent that we weren't the only ones who had decided to go to the pumpkin patch for the day.  We waited a good twenty minutes in line just to get into the farm!  It was a beautiful fall day and based on the crowds I'm guessing most schools were out for fall break.  Just our luck.  The lines for the rides were long and slow moving (and by rides I mean the barrel train, pedal cars, and mine car).  The mine car went the fastest and so we started there.  After watching the barrel train line I decided that I did not have the patience to wait through that, and so we moved on to the pedal cars.  The boys were excited for that and so we waited it out.  After that we had been at the pumpkin patch for over an hour already and were ready for lunch.  We found ourselves a picnic table and enjoyed the Lunchables that we had picked up on our way to the farm.

The line to get in.

Trying to get the kids to look at me for a picture while we were waiting for the mine car to go.

Kai on the pedal cars.  I didn't get a picture of Finn because he was off on the smaller track with a smaller car, but he was really flying!

Bree was wanting to pose for a picture.

I couldn't get all 3 of them to agree on a bench.  Bree was willing to sit for a picture wherever I asked, but the boys weren't quite as cooperative.

From there we headed over to the children's playground area and let the kids run around for a while.  Then we decided to tackle the corn maze.  This might have been my favorite part of the whole farm.  If my kids were only a bit older we could have spent hours working our way through the maze and finding all of the checkpoints.  However, Finn started getting tired and hot and I was already carrying Bree.  I was too nervous to leave them in the maze by themselves due to the very real possibility that they would become lost, so we headed out after only 45 minutes or so.

A look at the main barn at the farm

Playing in the wood train

Corn maze

After that it was time to head out to the pumpkin field and pick our pumpkins.  All of the kids got a pumpkin and enjoyed the ride to the pumpkin patch.  When we got off our ride we had to wait another 20 minutes just to pay for the pumpkins.  I seriously felt like leaving the pumpkins and moving on, but my kids were set on buying the pumpkins.  The family behind us in line did leave, though, and said the experience of picking them was good enough for them.

Picking his pumpkin

I love how she is looking at Kai.

Our pumpkins waiting to be paid for.

After paying for the pumpkins we headed to our car.  Four hours at the pumpkin patch and we were all sufficiently worn out.  It was a fun day, but not one that I think we are going to repeat.

The next day was Finn's 6th birthday.  We had a fun day planned for him that centered around a trip to the North Pole.  The boys had earned the trip by learning to ride their bikes and this was the first Saturday that we didn't have soccer since then.  Our day started early with a trip to Amy's Doughnuts.  I have no idea how I have lived here for almost 8 years and I had just heard of this place.  They had some awesome doughnuts.  I'd guess there were over 50 flavors of doughnuts in the case and they had powdered, glazed, and plain doughnuts with out any filling that you could pick your own filling and it would be done right in front of you.  When we got to Amy's the line was nearly out the door.  The man said that is pretty typical of a Saturday morning.  As we were waiting in line a sweet elderly gentleman approached me and said, "Didn't Amy's tell you that beautiful children can't eat here without junior police officer badges?" and handed all of my kids a sticker.  It was super sweet and made me smile.  Finn had been feeling off the whole morning and wasn't wanting to eat his birthday doughnuts.  He wasn't wanting anything in his tummy actually and so I was nervous about what the rest of the day would hold.

Waiting in line on a carpet donut.

The donut line

The sun was bright and he wasn't feeling good so I gave up on getting a picture of him with all of his birthday donuts.

After getting our doughnuts we headed up the mountain to the North Pole.  We love this place and the time we have together.  Our family tip is to get there at opening and head straight to the back of the park, which we did.  Everyone stops at the rides in the front and so we are able to get through the rides at the back of the park quickly and repeat them as much as we'd like before it gets busy.  The weather was beautiful and the kids were having a blast.  (Oh, and did I mention that Finn threw up in the parking lot when we got there and then headed to the restroom before eventually feeling lots better?  Ugghhh....)  Bree surprised me as we discovered that she is a thrill rider just like her brother Finn.  They both wanted to ride every single ride, no matter what.  Their favorite was the dive bombers.  Unfortunately, my body doesn't handle thrill rides like it used to.  I remember my parents not doing the rides with us as kids and wishing they were like the other "cool" parents who were in the lines.  And now, I'm one of the parents who is barely holding onto her sanity and lunch while trying to support my kids.  I had to ride the dive bombers three times in a row (twice with Bree and then once with Finn--Reid rode one time with Finn) and it nearly took me out for the whole day.  After some lunch and some down time I ventured onto a couple more crazy rides.  I thought for sure that Bree had met her match with the tilt-a-whirl, but I was wrong.  Finally I did two rides in a row on the paratrooper and I was done.  Just done.  Good thing the kids had ridden nearly everything in the park at least once by that point and were ready to go home.

I took a picture of this sign because it is probably the last time that all of our kids can ride these rides together.  Bree is 32 inches tall and Kai is 47 inches.

Bree is riding with Reid

Waiting for a ride

I love this picture.  They were talking about something and just enjoying each other.

Reid gave me bunny ears so they would look for a picture.  This is what we got.

The north pole is cold!

At home we had dinner and then opened Finn's birthday presents.  He LOVED everything we got for him this year.  I was pretty proud of us for really getting it right.  We all had a great weekend celebrating Finn and we are so glad he is a part of our family.

He got an Air Flicker scooter which was too big to wrap so it went in a lawn bag.

A RC car from his brother and sister

What was left of the birthday donuts by the time I remembered I didn't have a picture of them.

Sunday morning he finally felt well enough to try his donuts.

A lazy Sunday together