Welcome to our home..and the farm

There is no doubt that one of my favorite things to do this time of the year is head up to Black Island Farms.  It is a perfect family outing for many reasons.  

I'll start with a few: I a sucker for the farm animals like the goats that will eat straight out of your hand or my favorite miniature donkeys. I could also eat my weight in fresh kettle corn made right there and served warm. I love the tradition of the hayride to go pick your pumpkin straight from the vine.  

It also just so happens to be a genuine family event each time we go because Robert's family owns and runs it!  It is great to be able to enjoy such a fun place and be able to visit extended family all in one trip!

Needless to say, one of the things on my mind as we were watching our timeline wrap up quickly is the fact that we would make it home before Halloween and might be able take Julia to experience the Farm before they shut it down for the season.

It was a pretty quick turn around but we did just that!  On Monday, we took advantage of the last nice weather day before the holiday and introduced Julia to one of our favorite Fall traditions.  It was especially nice that my mom took a partial day off of work and my sister was a bit naughty and pulled my niece out of school early (which she was thrilled about) so everyone could go together.

This morning everyone woke up on their own and we got the girls some breakfast.  After hanging out around the house, we added another set of clothes to the diaper bag and got ready to go.  

By the time we left, it was about lunch time and Robert had seen a commercial for the McRib--the one time of year that he craves McDonald's.  We though it'd be fun to get lunch and see if Julia had the same affinity for french fries that she did for the hashbrowns.  It takes about 45 minutes to get from our house to the farm and Julia ate her happy meal almost the entire trip up there.  She ate every chicken nugget, drained her juice box and downed almost every fry!  In fact, she was eyeing Lily's chicken nuggets for a time there too.

First stop at the farm were the animals--

Julia had no problem latching onto Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Brandon.

Momma got her snuggles in though too--

Next stop were the animal tire swings--

The slides were our first glimpse of the dare-devil in Julia.  After the first trip down with dad, she wanted to go on any slide with anyone she could recruit!

Lily is more a 'cheer them on from the hay bale at the bottom' type--

The rock band section has always been a favorite of Lily's.  She loves music just like her dad and we have many pictures of her with the 'rock star' faces while playing here.  The apple once again did not fall far from the tree and Julia loved the play sets too!  Amazing how God has yet again given me another little female copy of my husband!

We made a pit-stop at the corn cannons and corn sling-shot afterwards and my sister, niece and I all tested our aim with some corn cobs.  Um, not so much. Ha ha!

 

Though we couldn't pull Julia away from the rock band booth long enough to check this one, Lily is a big fan of 'echo sounds' right now so she loves the giant ghost!

Then came one of the surprise hits of the day--the corn box!  It's basically a sand box filled with dried kernels of corn.  Let the less-messy sand-box play begin!

We were (and still are) finding corn everywhere!  In diapers, in shoes, in socks--you name it!  It's been hilarious for one to fall out of the diaper bag at random.

Afterward, we went on our hay ride and picked our pumpkins from the patch.  We lugged them to the car and decided since it was getting chilly and dark that we'd better call it a night.  We wound up spending almost 6 hours there that afternoon!  Lily had fun as she always does up there and ran around, leading the way for the group.  Julia was once again in awe of most things around her.  She still amazes me that most things do not cause her to get anxious or scared.  The majority of the time, she just takes it all in and wears that big, happy smile.