Butler Orchard and the Gilberts

Since we were a few days early for the wedding we got to enjoy a few things in DC and one of my favorite fall activities in DC was the pumpkin patch festivals.  They don't have these in Utah and I can't figure out why.  These farms just rake in the dough.  

We met Mack and Sam at an orchard owned by one of her high school friend's family up in Maryland.  The boys were instantly running for the giant slides.  Unfortunately we didn't realize why none of the other kids were on them yet- they still had dew, which quickly soaked their jeans but they didn't seem to care.  

Giant slides on hay sacks.  My boys will deal with wet bums for that!

After that we headed into the corn maze which the boys loved and we followed along at least.

Miles was insistant that every time he found one of these picture signs, I take his picture.

The slides and maze would have been enough to entertain my boys all morning but this place was over the top.  Tons of little dump trucks and tractors setup on this table thing with corn kernels for the kids to scoop and dump and build with.

Then play tractors to ride around on- even if your legs are scrunched up to your shoulders.

A castle, train, and pirate ship with ladders, slides, tunnels, and so many places to explore.

I tried to keep track of all 3 boys (only lost Isaac once) while Taylor sat with Mack and Sam and Isla and planned out their wedding ceremony.  Of course when Mack agreed to hold Isla for only the 2nd time ever she managed to explode out of her diaper and destroy his jeans.  I'm not sure she's even ever done that to me.  Mack will never again agree to hold a baby.

Miles tried out the hay sack maze a few times.  He never actually made it all the way through.  He'd get about half way and then get stuck and decide it was just easier to go back out the front which kept amazing me because he seemed to have memorized where he'd been and didn't make wrong turns.

Pirate ships should always have slides according to Miles.

There's a monkey on your back Sam!

The orchard was perfect for 3 busy boys.  So many activities and just a little bit of Halloween spookiness thrown in for fun.

When I finally found Isaac (15 minutes after noticing he'd wandered off) this is where I found him.  A rubber ducky derby.  So hilarious!  Basically you set your duck in your pipe and then pump water as fast as you can and race the others beside you.

Driving broken down tractors.

And dancing on a mountain of hay bales.

Feeding chickens and other farm animals.

And climbing up inside real farm equipment.  They spent almost a half hour up inside this one.  I  think they remember Taylor driving the tractor in Idaho and this was finally their turn.

And back to the rubber duckies but with Taylor this time.

A finally we took a hay ride out to a pumpkin patch where we picked a few pumpkins to take to our friends since we couldn't (or I wouldn't) bring them on the plane.

After the pumpkin patch we headed to our good friends the Gilberts where we hung out and played until Sheldon got home.

The kids climbed their tree and we got to hang out and chat.

Such a perfect day!!!