Our event started at 9:30 a.m., and was located in Villa Rica - approximately a 35-40 minute drive. We also needed to pack a picnic lunch, which is the bane of my existence! Fortunately, I had help in the form of Jim packing our lunch bag (thanks, babe!), Grammie getting breakfast for the kids, and Nana wrangling the baby. Phew! I'm always very aware and appreciative of the tremendous blessing I have in family that pitches in whenever needed. Amazingly, we made it out the door dressed in our school-group shirts and on the road right on time!
Waverly needs a tie-dyed onesie to match, I think ;-)
It's so hard to wait on friends to arrive!
A few families were later than the planned start time (some due to confusion on time, others just because... well, homeschool families are notoriously bad about arriving anywhere on time; not all, but a lot) so our schedule was bumped back a bit and we had to wait behind another tour group. No problem - the kids were happy for some playground time :-)
So lovely, and yet so completely covered in playground sand from head to toe in the first ninety seconds....
I love how my kids disperse and play with other friends; I also love how they are somewhat magnetized to one another and always eventually wind up playing together, even if it's only for little pockets of time in and amongst playing with others.
Finally, it was our group's turn to begin the tour! We walked down a nature trail - there were a couple of riddles along the way. Here, the kids and Mrs. Lawson pause to read the riddle and make guesses as to what the answer could be.
Sweet friends! N, Victoria, Olivia, Scarlett and Reegan.
At the end of one trail we came across a little seating area, where the kids sat to watch a short presentation.
This lady was a riot. She was dressed to the hilt as a Native American and did great with the kids, engaging them, asking questions and teaching them a bit... in her full Georgian drawl. She must have been from a southern tribe ;-)
Passing out samples of freeze dried corn - all of my kids liked it (Victoria initially declined to sample it, then changed her mind when other kids were saying it was yummy), and Lincoln asked the lady for more.
After walking the rest of the nature trail loop, we went to try our hand at panning for gemstones. The kids had watched other groups do this as we waited to start our tour, and were very eager to get to do it themselves! They listened attentively to the instructions...
Finally, they all got to follow the steps and see if they had any any treasure.
Lincoln's sheer excitement was awesome to watch - he was truly amazed when the dirt washed away in the stream of water and after shaking his sifter for a few moments, he discovered colored stones! :-)
Victoria was also thrilled to find lovely stones in her sifter.
They were each given bags to place their treasure rocks in so we could take them home!
Lincoln and Judd, goofing around while they wait in line for a chance to stuff a scarecrow.
Victoria and Lincoln both had the chance to help stuff hay in the scarecrow - Scarlett, however, had let a few little kids go in front of her and was essentially at the back of the line. By the time she got up there, the scarecrow was pretty stuffed and the worker moved on to having the kids yell out name suggestions. I was proud of Scarlett that she didn't get upset or frustrated due to missing out, instead just rolling with it. She is growing up!
The crew!
Next, we took a hayride over to the pumpkin patch. Waverly was having a good time, watching all of the kids and taking sporadic snoozes!
The kids each got to choose a little baby pumpkin. Lincoln: "Mama! This one is SO SUTE [cute]!!"
Intense pumpkin selection discussion, hehe
Victoria's winner~
Scarlett was asking my opinion about which one was more perfect. She ended up choosing the tiniest one she could find, that had the cutest little stem :-)
All four of my pumpkins!
With the tour winding down, my crew was hungry and growing tired. They opted out of the last stop on the tour (craft - very cute!) to instead begin pilfering the lunch bag while I changed and fed Waverly. Then we joined our group at the picnic table area for the official lunch and I let the kids play for the better part of an hour while I chatted with some of the other moms. Eventually, it was time for us to finish up and head home, but not before the kids wanted to stick their heads in the Sweetwater Valley Pumpkin Patch sign! (note the squinty looks from the sun shining brightly into their eyes, haha)
We had one stop on our way home from the field trip, and after we got back in the car both Lincoln and Sissy nodded off. When we pulled in the driveway, Linc popped right up (like he always does) but Victoria was stone-cold asleep. I was gathering up my purse, keys, diaper bag, etc., and I heard Scarlett say, "Sissy, you're so smiley" about three times and when I looked back she was making her smile... in her sleep ;-)
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