Preschool Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

This fall I started a preschool co-op for Corban with six other mothers of preschoolers in our congregation. We have preschool on Monday and Wednesday mornings for two hours each day; a different mom teaches the kids at her house each week. It's been really good for Corban to spend structured time with other kids his age, as well as experience authority from other adults. It's also been really nice for me to have some time with one less kid twice a week and I only have to teach every six weeks.




About a month ago, we went on a "field trip" to pick out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch at Linder Farms here in Kuna.



For a couple dollars Corban could take home any pumpkin he could carry.



We enjoyed the hayride which took us on a tour of the farm--the cornfields for the corn maze, the acres of pumpkins, the variety of animals they keep for the petting zoo they open up when people come for the corn maze. We saw a camel, a zebera, a llama, and an ostrich, as well as some goats and sheep.



They had a kids' maze made out of stacked hay bales that Corban ran through about 15 times. Keitra was content to observe all the proceedings from the baby backpack.



A week or so later we invited my brother Mason to go with us to The Maize, another corn maze also in Kuna, for a ward activity. We enjoyed the various food booths vending such novelties as Dutch Oven scones and Fried Onion Blossoms. Our kids bounced and giggled for a good half hour on the "Giant Jumping Pillow" before Corban took a ride on the "Bucking Cow Train."



Then we took off into the maze, designed this year in honor of the presidential election. We wanted to head as far as we could into the depth of the corn before trying to find our way out. But for the first half hour every turn we took seemed to head us back to the entrance. Finally we headed back out the way we came in. Once outside, an authoritative hint convinced us to try again. Our acquired advice lead us over what felt like every inch of the maze, and out again. By the time we were out we had a walked a few miles and a couple of hours had passed. Keitra was asleep in the baby backpack, Corban asleep in our arms, and we were pretty beat but it was great fun!