Vala's Pumpkin Patch

The kids were off school for conferences last week on Thurs and Fri so we took advantage of the day off and headed to Vala'a Pumpkin Patch on Friday (along with the rest of the city of Omaha!!). I love Vala's---it's another one of my favorite things about Fall in Nebraska. But boy it was crowded on Friday. The past few years we have always gone after school during the week and spent the evening there so I wasn't used to it being so packed! My mom went with us and it was nice to have her help because pretty much once you walk in the gates one kids wants to go one way and the other wants to go the other way so it's nice to have an extra set of hands! We also met Ellie's friend Claire and her mom Karen so that was fun as well. The kids loved the jumping pillows and the corn pit. I think they could pretty much spend the entire day in those 2 things. We also did the riding tractors and they loved a new playground area that they built this year. That was nice because it was enclosed and since Jack decided to get lost in the corn maze I needed something to contain him! I was so freaked out in the corn maze--I have NEVER lost one of my children before and after those frantic 5 min I don't think I ever want to do that again. I had told Ellie and her friend to keep Jack with them in case they got to far ahead and that evidently went in one ear and out the other because all 3 of them took off once they hit the corn maze and that was the end of it! I tried keeping up with Jack but he was too quick :) So I found a nice staff member who happened to be walking through the corn maze and explained what had happened--he was so calm and said it happens all the time (nice :) and he walked me through the maze (he was going very slow and I kept wanting to shake him and say could you hurry up) but I let him do his thing--he kept reassuring me that there was only 1 exit but I got freaked out when I asked him out big the corn maze was and his reply was "only 3 acres"---GULP!!! But thankfully my friend Karen called (who was waiting at the exit) and said that some nice person had found him wandering and brought him to her---he was totally fine and not freaked out at all! So anyway a nice little reminder that corn mazes are not for 3 yr olds and 7 yr old can't be expected to keep an eye on their 3 yr old brothers!!! My mom left around 4pm and then Dave came and met us after work. We had dinner in the barn cafe and then went back and did some other things. We ended up being there from 1pm-almost 10pm. The kids were wiped out and we managed to lose Jack's Husker sweatshirt and cute Halloweeen shirt (he had gotten it wet playing with the duck race game so we took it off to dry and just put his coat on him but apparently it fell off the stroller sometime between leaving Vala's and getting to the car--bummer!!).
Saturday was such a nice lazy day! It was overcast and cloudy which was just what we needed after a busy week filled with conferences and my organizing the teacher conference meal at school. Ellie had gymnastics on Sat morning and then we came home and ordered pizza and watched the NU vs Minnesota game. Both kids were so crabby and we actually got Ellie to take a nap which I swear hasn't happened since she was 3 so that was a big accomplishment! We rented "Soul Surfer" Sat night because Ellie wanted to see it again and watched that together. It was a nice relaxing day! Sunday Ellie and I went to see "How I Became a Pirate" at the Rose and then met up with Jack and Dave at the zoo because it was gorgeous day! Ended the day at my parents for dinner and then home to get ready to go back to school after a long 4 day weekend! I LOVE Fall and wish it would last forever!!!