A Pumpkin Patch in Gainesville

Last weekend we took a trip to Gainesville to attend my 30th high school reunion. Granddad and Sujata helped a lot by watching the kids while we were out. (Thank you!) It went fine, but I won't post photos here because this is the kids' blog and everyone wants to see photos of them!

Besides having fun with a sleepover at Sujata's and meals out as a family, we also decided to check out a local pumpkin patch before going home. Last year for Halloween we were caught unprepared. In Portland there were several local pumpkin patches with fun events for the kids during October, so we figured we could just attend one of those here and get our pumpkins. We waited too late and then realized that pumpkin patches don't seem to be a Florida thing. Moreover, even the grocery stores sold out of pumpkins close to Halloween so we were left empty handed at the last minute. We're trying to do better this year. Since we were in Gainesville, we searched for pumpkin-related events nearby and found a farm just north of town.

As it turned out, we weren't sure if this was actually a pumpkin farm because we didn't see any pumpkins in the fields and they weren't even selling any! But we were very happy that it was a fall event with all sorts of fun activities for kids. First stop was a great inflated bubble in the ground that kids could jump on.

 

I'll just post the photos of activities here, because you can tell what they are and see how much fun the kids were having.

This was a small room only marked with the writing, "Vortex". It was a great illusion with the circular room spinning around a walkway, making it difficult and dizzying to walk through.

Just like in Portland, the kids enjoyed the pipe slides and pony rides.

  

The event featured a small and a very large corn maze. The larger (10 acre?) one cost more money, so we figured we'd try the smaller, included one first. It was pretty nice, but I wouldn't call it a maze. There was a wide, clearly defined walking area, so it was more of a corn field stroll. 

Ronan watched in anticipation as kids threw balls to try to dunk a man in water. He tried it himself, but didn't hit the target. He did get to see one good dunk and had his usual excited laugh at the slapstick, random humor of the situation. I wish I could have caught it on video, because he's so funny and cute.

We had a great time seeing Granddad and Sujata and exploring a new fall festival. I guess I'll be getting our pumpkins from a grocery store here, but it's great to know that we can still visit a local farm to allow the kids to have a great time.