Dewberry Farm (Lots of Pictures)

James has been working extra hard recently, so when he unexpectedly got a 3 day weekend, we decided we had to take full advantage of it and went to a family farm just outside of town. We had an amazing time. For the cost of entry (the girls were free, at least for another year) we got access to a playground, barrel train, hay stack with rope swings, pig races, and a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch itself. There's also a great corn maze, but by the time we did everything else, the girls were too tired for us to even attempt it. Now for the dozen pictures:

Cadence posing right before the barrel train ride. She loved it. A big tractor pulled around some old 55-gallon barrels painted and decorated to look like cows:

This was by far Cadence's favorite. Climb to the top of the hay mountain and swing on the ropes. If you fell? No big deal! Lots of soft hay to land on.

She seriously would have spent all day on this one if we let her. But there were only so many ropes and we needed to let other kids have a fair chance.

We paid a little extra to go through a dark building with lots of carved (and lit up) pumpkins. It was crazy hot inside that small building, so when we came out, it was only natural to go to the snow cone booth right next to it. Pretty fun. They give you the ice and you go to a little room with a dozen flavors and you can mix and match to your hearts content.

Obviously, the girls loved it.

Megan at the pumpkin patch. Thank goodness she wore that hat. It kept her from getting sunburned (like me).

Cadence was CRAZY about the pumpkins. As soon as we got off the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch she was running around trying to pick them all up.

Others had stacked pumpkins for photo ops, so we attempted to take advantage of the opportunity. Here's Cadence bossing her sister around as I attempted to herd Megan to the perfect spot for a cute photo.

And this is how Megan interpreted my request of "sit next to Cadence!"

James and Cadence inspected a few, but in the end, we bought some from the stall closer to the gates. Smaller pumpkins, good for the girls to paint next weekend.

After we checked out the pumpkins we headed into the farm to check out some chickens and sheep and pigs. At one point a big turkey attempted to hop out of his pen and spent a few minutes perched on the gate. Megan kept trying to go pet him. The attendants didn't seem too concerned, but turkey's aren't known for being gentle, so I had to keep snatching her back.

Checking out the ponies and miniature horses outside.

On our way out, Megan tore her hand out of mine and ran to see the goats.

What I didn't get pictures of include the girls' favorite rides: the big roller slide. We went down that thing half a dozen times and I got a nice bruise on my hand since I didn't trust the two of them to go down it alone (8-10 feet high, what can I say? I'm a nervous mom). And the cutest moment had to be Megan and the ducks. She was obsessed with the things. As we headed on our way out, we happened to be between two white ducks and their pond. They got nervous at our approach and ran straight in front of us. Megan was THRILLED and ran after them quacking. James snatched her before she chased them right into the water. Too bad those ducks wouldn't cooperate for a picture!

We plan to go back the day after Thanksgiving. Free admission to all the little rides and a chance to cut down our own Christmas tree!!