The Bruce Brood: Pumpkin Patch 2013

I just love fall. Pumpkins, mums, the leaves changing, apple crisp, cooler temps, boots, scarves, sweaters, candy corn, football, bonfires. What's not to love? One of my favorite fall activities is a trip to the pumpkin patch. Andrew and I did this for the first time together when I was pregnant with Hudson. And we have gone every year since, adding to our group. This year was was by far my favorite year!! I am not sure if it was because of Hudson's age and how excited he got or because I absolutely adored the patch we went to this time, but let me tell you it was great!

Since moving, Andrew and I realized we are going to have to be very intentional about seeing our family and friends. We don't live in a town that is exactly booming with activity and attractions, which is fine, nor do we have ~~a lot~~ ANY extra room to host a ton of visitors. Fortunately, we have *amazing* family and friends who are ready to be just as intentional as we are. My sweet sister in law, Rachel, suggested doing a family pumpkin patch trip in Springfield this year so we could get our boys together. I posted here about how close our boys are in age. Springfield is a middle ground as far as distance to travel and it is also a big enough city to find things to do with our little ones. I was all over this idea and started looking up pumpkin patches to visit. Our family had always gone east to a pumpkin patch in Champaign so this would be a new one for all of us. I came across the sweetest website advertising Bomke's Patch. It seemed like such a neat family that began this patch (and tree farm!) and I couldn't wait to go. Like seriously, I made a calendar to count down the days! I.Love.The.Patch!

My family went to middle church that morning and left straight after. Our boys took a little snooze as we drove to Springfield. Perfect start. Add to that sweet little start was the weather. It was cool and crisp out, with a breeze. Jeans, long sleeves, fleeces: perfection!

We met at Culver's first to fuel up our little men! I could not believe how much sweet Emmett had changed in the past month! He was smiling from ear to ear and the most happy, teething baby I have ever seen! (Unfortunately I did not take my camera into eat lunch so I did not get any pics of his sweet face. FAIL.) As we ate lunch it clouded over a bit, but call me crazy, it added to my good mood. Where we live a stormy looking sky over a field of corn only adds to the beauty that surrounds us. Check at these sweetie pies walking into the patch!

They had a pre-picked section that caught our boys' eyes as we walked up. There was a whole group of large pumpkins and, being all boy, they both ran to climb, push, and try to pick them up!

See all boy!! Ha!

There were little wagons and tractors in that same area for little ones to ride around on. The boys did that for a few minutes, in between running back to the big pumpkins! I just hung with the little guy! It was Beau's first time at the patch! :)

Next to the pre-picked area was this beautiful barn. It had crafts, popcorn, home decor and an assortment of little gourds and mini pumpkins laid out. It smelled like popcorn and cider and wood..heavenly. It was lit up with soft twinkly lights. It was so, so cozy. My pictures do not do it justice. I read on the website that they host wedding and receptions and oh my word, I totally get why if that is the theme you want! Attention, Springfield brides--check it out!

After collecting a mini pumpkin and "rattle"- it was a gourd shaped like a rattle so Hudson insisted that it was a rattle, we made our way to the play area...while stopping at the big pumpkins again, of course!

Now I am all for making a living but man alive, when did a weekend at the pumpkin patch turn into paying an arm and a leg? Seriously?! Last year we spent over $80 on our little trip to the pumpkin patch. And that didn't include us doing the play area. Not here, friends. No. Bomke's patch was seriously family friendly: clean, great staff, and gentle on the wallet. Everything was free for kids 2 and under! Including their awesome play area. They had swings and jungle gym areas. They had those neat little swings made out of saddles. And they had a corn box. Imagine a sand box. Now take the sand out and insert corn. Just look at the pictures. The boys had a ball!

Can I just say nothing makes my heart melt more than a dad and his boy?

Or my brother and his nephew Melt.My.Heart

They also had a giant slide that our boys went down time and again. Even the dads got in on the action!

Do you see the joy on that face?!

I lied. I said I had no pictures of sweet Emmett. I did not have any at Culvers. I do have one of his precious face at the Bomke's. Check out that lil' man! We got cold and hungry so Rachel took him to the car for a bit. Sidenote--she is one of the best mothers I know. I have to put that out there. Not because she does everything right (which she does A LOT right) but because she is so amazingly calm in her mothering. She just knows how to go with it.

While they were in the car, we went on a wagon ride. Do you see what I mean about the sky? Cloudy? Yes. Beautiful? YES! The ride stopped at this little area with farm animals you could feed and pet! Hudson wasn't completely sure of it but he really liked seeing the animals!

We joined back together after the wagon ride and decided to do the corn maze (again, FREE for the little ones!). We found out that none of us big kids had ever done a corn maze. I know, shocking!! We were all pretty excited about it!

Until we saw other people carrying maps. MAPS??!!? This corn maze was intense. Like, "Don't make a wrong turn or you could be stuck in here for days!" intense!

Andrew's artistic shot

The sky looked less beautiful and more ominous as the wind whipped the corn and we realized we were at checkpoint 2 of 10!

So we started following people with a map, and Andrew starting shooting pictures of checkpoints. To document our journey, obviously!

Our little guys were winding down by this point and the winds were picking up. We opted to choose from the pre-picked section of pumpkins and call it a day!