Sonshine Fall Fun

While I will always long for Vala's from our Nebraska days, there are some pretty good pumpkin patch places over here in the Florida panhandle.  Trying not to feel too sad about not getting to do these fun fall things with my hubby, I took our kids about an hour north with my dad and we spent a few fun hours at this family owned pumpkin patch, Sonshine Family Farm.  

And when I say pumpkin patch, that's just an all-encompassing word that means any type of corn maze/hay rack ride/pumpkin selling farm open for family entertainment in the fall.  

This was our first year at this particular pumpkin patch, and it really was worth the time and drive.  

See?  Happy kids.  

There were two mazes, one for little ones, which was the best 'little ones' maze we've been to.  There were five stations to find in the maze that the kids had to stop at and dip each finger into the colored chalk on the stand.  When we came out of the maze we had to find our color combination on the big board and do the funny charade as directed. It was a fun little twist to the normal corn maze.

Then Grandpa took the girls on the hay rack ride and the boys and I went in the big corn maze.  They had stations in there also, with word game clues and picture rubbings.

And there was a greatly appreciated map in the middle of the maze.  I took a picture of it and gave my boys hints on how to find the way though the maze since the first half took us an hour to get through.  

After an hour and forty five minutes of finding our way through the maze, we finally got out and the girls and Grandpa joined us on the hay rack ride.

While this farm didn't have an actual pumpkin patch, there was a little field of them to choose from.  My rule for my kids is that they have to be able to carry their pumpkin to the pumpkin cart so they don't pick out the most gigantic one in the field.

They also had crafts and Anna and Leah spent much time making bead bracelets, which is also one of their favorite things to do at home.

Anna took pushing her baby on the swing very seriously.

And after walking around in the fresh air for a few hours, Anna fell asleep on the way home.  And while she woke up when we pulled into the garage and walked inside, this sweet girl just couldn't keep her eyes open once she walked in the house.  

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