Our annual visit to a pumpkin patch is always greatly anticipated by Ava and Lola. They love choosing their own pumpkins to carve for Halloween and they can't wait for the other fun activities that await them at the pumpkin patch. In the past we've visited Petaluma Pumpkin patch (you can see our previous visits here and here) but this year we thought we'd try somewhere different for a change. We still wanted to head north as the landscape around there is so pretty so we decided to choose another pumpkin patch near Petaluma. After checking out the websites of several pumpkin patches in the area we settled on McClelland's Dairy. The girls were pretty excited about one particular activity that McClelland's Dairy featured that the other's didn't. The pumpkin blaster!
As excited as we were for the pumpkin blaster, we decided to hit the field and choose our pumpkins first before heading to the activity area. Lola wasn't too picky about her pumpkins and pretty much just chose the first two that she came along - which admittedly, were pretty good pumpkins. Ava, however, had to check as many pumpkins as possible before deciding which two she would like. Mathilde just tried (unsuccessfully!) to pick up every pick up every pumpkin she saw. And she refused to wear shoes. Oh my were her feet filthy by the end of the day!
Once we had chosen our pumpkins, paid for them, and carted them back to our Zipcar, we headed off to the entertainment area for a little fun.
We started with the pumpkin blaster. As it turns out, they seemed to be out of mini pumpkins to blast through this cannon, so instead the girls got to shoot apples. I have no idea if the girls managed to hit the targets or not, but they had a lot of fun with the pumpkin blaster.
Next up we checked out the hay bale maze...
... followed by the tractor race. As you can probably guess, my tractor and digger obsessed toddler thought this one was pretty fantastic. In fact, all three girls enjoyed riding around on the pedal tractors. If we had some outside space at home I'd love to get something like this for Mathilde. Once again, Mathilde decided that she needed to take her shoes off
In the center of the tractor race sat an actual tractor. The girls took it in turns sitting behind the wheel pretending to drive. They loved the big spring on the bouncy driver's seat!
Behind the tractor race were the most fantastic swings I've ever seen. They were made out of tires and shaped to resemble horses and bulls. The girls had a blast riding these swings.
Being a dairy, there were lots of cows. Reals ones, bouncy ones and ones on photo props.
A huge hit with the kids was the sandbox filled with grain. Other pumpkin patches that we've visited have had sandboxes willed with corn kernels and the kids have always loved the feel of it. I can safely say that they love the grains just as much. Both Ava and Lola buried their bodies in the grains. Mathilde found a digger to drive around scooping up the grain. All three girls love jumping in from the side.
Before we said good bye to the pumpkin patch at the end of the day we made one more stop to look at the sunflowers growing alongside the pumpkins. Mathilde thought they were so lovely she had to give them all a kiss.
As always, we had a wonderful time visiting the pumpkin patch. I can't believe that Fall is almost over already. Thanksgiving is almost here and before we know it so too will be Christmas. Eek!
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