Pumpkin Patch!

This weekend our friends Brian and Nichole and their beautiful daughters Payton and Allie came to visit us, and we all went to Didier Farms (a pumpkin patch place for those not from Lake County).  I had never been before, but Nichole and I knew we wanted to take the kids to a pumpkin/fall place for the day.  What I didn't realize is that Didier Farms isn't just a chill pumpkin patch with some ponies and some bales of hay, it is fall fun insanity!!  We got a sense of what we were up against when the police and state troopers directed us to our parking.  Whoa. 

Ryan and Brian were not too thrilled about missing the Bears game to pick out pumpkins amidst the pig stench, but I enjoyed it, and I know Gavin did too! The pumpkin patch did have pumpkins (as well as super delicious apple cider donuts...I'm glad I didn't know about these when I was pregnant!!), as well as a bunch of kiddie carnival rides, hayrides, a super slide, a train ride, pony rides, arts and crafts, you name it!

Here is Gav enjoying the wagon ride into Didier Farms

 We decided to check out the petting zoo.  Mommy immediately took Gavin over to see the pig, but Gav wasn't too sure about all these farm animals just yet.

I thought those animals looked familiar...

 Gavin quickly went from nervous to extremely confident...here he is yelling at the goats

 Looking cute in his flannel shirt

 Learning how to pet the animals.  Gavin's idea of petting the animals was one quick, light tap.  Then he would look up at me and smile.  What a sweetie!

 That white goat in the corner of this pic really liked Gav.  He kept coming up behind Gavin when he wasn't looking and Gavin wasn't a fan of the surprise attack.

 Posing with Mommy.  Mommy didn't anticipate going in a petting zoo this day and foolishly wore flip flops.  I've washed my feet twice since then and they still feel dirty!

 Come pet the babies!  25 cents for a handful of goldfish crackers to feed them!

 "Look Mom!!!"

 Gavin having a standoff with the chicken.  There is some great video of this as well, but of all the animals in the petting zoo, Gav liked this chicken the best.

 Time to pick out some pumpkins!

 Expert pumpkin pickers know you really have to get down and dirty to pick a winner.

 Allie lends a hand in the pumpkin selection process.

 Family photo op

 The Kutmi attempt a family pic as well. Two girls = twice the difficulty attempting to get everyone in the family looking at the camera at the same time.  This was as close as we got before we had some escapees.

 We had some tickets to burn after our adventure in the petting zoo, so Gav and Daddy played a fishing carnival game together.

 Gavin catches a shark!

 Our attempt at getting a pic we can take every year...Gav wasn't too interested.