Vala's

This past Monday we went to Vala's Fall Festival (formerly known as Vala's Pumpkin Patch). I guess it's a good thing that they renamed it, b/c it is oh-so-much more than your typical pumpkin patch. (And, for the price that they charge, you'd think it was Disneyland!--NOT JOKING here!) Thankfully, we scored two free passes from my mom and since we went on a non-weekend day, it was "cheaper".

But, it was a lot of fun. This year, Emily and Christian are big enough to really enjoy a lot of what Vala's has to offer....well, not the scary stuff. But, at least this year "Storybook village" wasn't part of the scary stuff! (In years past, ANYthing that moved absolutely terrified Emily. We didn't even go last year--well, it was already freezing last year at this time so we didn't feel too badly.)

This year we had fun watching the "Dragon feeding" show--Christian really thought it was cool. Emily liked it, even though it got loud and well, Kari wasn't too happy that I had Daddy hold her while I snapped a picture!

Kari did enjoy, however, the goats! No surprise there, though, fresh off her zoo experience!

We also had fun honing our lassoing skills and playing on the slides. Daddy had a good time trying to drive this family bike!

Also among the highlights were the inflatable Pumpkin bouncer and swimming in the corn. Yes, I said swimming in the corn. See below.

Even Kari had a good time watching the "swimming"!The big kids could've stayed there all day, but, alas, after lunch and a bit more play, Miss K had had enough and was ready for a rest. It was certainly a fun morning--even if we didn't end up getting an actual pumpkin from the patch! (Daddy said that we'd already given enough to the Vala's kids' college funds and that we could share the pumpkin wealth with Home Depot or Target :-).) Happy Fall!