Pumpkin Patch and Oktoberfest 2014

Remember our Best Day from last year? We repeated it last Saturday, visiting the pumpkin patch and attending Oktoberfest, all on the same day. Only it wasn’t quite so good this time around, and there was one simple reason: it was freaking hot outside.

After an absolutely gorgeous (although unusually seasonal) couple of days the weekend before, last weekend felt like the middle of summer. And stupid me wore jeans. Big mistake. Big. Huge.

Uncle Jeff, Aunt E, and Kate came to the patch with us, as well as Kelli and her fam and Bridget and her fam. I got a text from Kelli on the way up there saying that Mickey, Minnie, and Mickey Jr. (?) would be making appearances throughout the day. Score. We luckily saw them right when we walked in and took a quick pic with the Mouse Family before going off to do other things.

The heat didn’t stop Riley from running all over the place with Jack. They hit the jumping pillow, the sand pit, the slides, the hay bales, the merry-go-round, the airplane, and the swings in a matter of a couple of hours. Their energy was boundless.

Riley also gave in this year and tried the zip line! I was so proud of him for doing it, and guess what? He loved it.

 

Did I mention it was hot? Because it was.

Rory was so sweaty by the time we left, but he seemed to have a really good time out there. He ran all over the open space, tentatively tried out the jumping pillow for a couple of seconds, and loved the horse tire swings. Kate did too.

After letting the kids play and taking breaks for water and lunch, I made the boys sit down in the actual pumpkin patch to get some pics. They were less than cooperative…..

…..and this was the best I could get.

Then Riley licked the side of his brother’s face…..

…..so I called an end to the pumpkin photo session and let Kate have her turn. Sweet girl.

The kids picked out their pumpkins, I took a quick shot of the three cousins, and then we were blessedly back in the cool, air-conditioned car heading home.

Rory was asleep before we even got back to the interstate, but Riley stayed awake the whole ride home. Unlike last year, we decided not to go straight out to Oktoberfest. Instead, we headed back to the house for a couple of hours of downtime.

We piled into the car again around 4:30 and drove out to Rivertown for the festival. With the sun going down, the heat wasn’t quite as oppressive as it was earlier, and we had a really good time.

The boys ate soft pretzels, sauerbraten, and bratwurst for dinner and loved it all. We saw a bunch of people we knew and made friends with some we didn’t (they had bubbles….note to self: always have bubbles!). And of course Kenny and I got to drink some delicious German beer.

 

It was a warm day, it was a busy day, it was a tiring day, but it was a fun day. After all, it doesn’t always have to be a Best Day for me to enjoy spending time with my boys.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!