Fun-tastic Fall!

October 20 - The kids had a few days off of school for UEA, so we decided to use one of the days to make a trip to the American West Heritage Center with our friends Summer and Sky. We REALLY needed to get out of the house! I think the girls and I were in PJs and just laying around for most of October since I wasn't feeling good, so an outing was just what we needed. We went to this event last year and had so much fun, so we were excited to go again. Arriving at the Heritage Center - Logan is already armed with his map!
Rylee, Sky and Logan - After a few pictures, we ate some a picnic and then we were ready for some fun!
The first spot we stopped at was a big area with bales of hay to jump in, a little tube slide and some other fun things to climb on and such. Avery was so happy to be out and about!
Trying to keep up with the big kids
This was a maze of cardboard boxes. It looked a little ghetto, but the kids really liked it. Except they were climbing over instead of going through...
Avery plugging up the slide. She was so bothered that that little boy was pushing her.
My pretty Rylee
Cute Avery
Logan Bogan This was their favorite area. It was a big pirate ship made of hay and they could jump into a pile of hay at the bottom. They wanted to jump and jump over and over. It made me pretty nervous, especially after another little kid twisted his ankle, but they were loving it! I might have gotten a little carried away with the camera.... I think I was trying to make up for the lack of pictures I had taken that month.
Rylee and Sky
I love Rylee and her hands on her hips

1...2...3.... JUMP!!!
Avery made me scared! She really thought she was going to just jump down like everyone else! I had to help her and then help her climb back up over and over. There were other areas designed for smaller kids, but she wanted to do what the big kids did!

Me and the kiddies

After the hay jump, the kids were anxious to try out the corn maze. They gave us a little map that we probably should have paid a lot more attention to. Instead, we let the kids take the lead and ended up pretty lost. I think it took us about 45 minutes to get back out. And we cheated. A lot! We went through the cornstalks and ended up coming out the entrance. The kids didn't seem to know the difference. And I think Summer and I were both done with the maze by that point. At least I was, if you can't tell by the picture! Not sure 2 pregnant ladies and 4 children under the age of 6 are the best guides to get through a corn maze. For some reason, the kids thought the best part of the corn maze was gathering up ears of corn. I think they each had a huge armload by the end of the trip! They also found a caterpillar that they thought was really neat and had a great time playing make believe. Rylee and her HUGE stash of corn. She was convinced that we should have these for dinner. Don't worry! We left them there.
Avery really liked the giant corn stalks and carried one around for most of the time we were in the maze. Yeah!!! We made it out! Even if it was just the Entrance.... At least we were done!
Cute friends - Avery, Sky, Logan and Rylee
The kids were dying to go down the giant slide but it was under repairs when we first got there. It was up and running when we got done with the maze, so we tried that next. Logan LOVED it! Logan didn't like the way the slide spun him around, so he tried this way the next time.
Avery was begging and begging to go down the slide, but I wasn't feeling great and I didn't know that I could make it down and back up. Thank goodness she has an awesome older brother to take her! He held on tight and they both had fun. However, Avery must not have had TOO much fun, because she didn't want to go down again.
Rylee wasn't interested in doing the slide. We tried and tried to get her to, but she wanted nothing to do with it. It is a little unusual for her because she is usually my daredevil.
She did go down to the bottom every time and carried Logan's mat back up for him. Funny girl! Avery having a little snack in the stroller. She was getting a little grumpy at this point without a nap. Good thing we had some leftover cheetos from lunch!
Next, we tried the gourd launch. This thing makes me laugh so hard because of the one on the Amazing Race that the girl used to launch a watermelon and got it right back in the face! If you have never seen that video clip, you should find it on YouTube. I think I watched it about a hundred times and it is still hilarious! I don't know if we were very successful in launching anything, but we managed to avoid getting anything to the face and the kids thought it was great! Avery insisted on no help, so she took awhile...
Rylee pulling back to launch hers
Usually, we go to the Heritage Center for Baby Animal Days. And so does everyone else in the whole state! It gets crazy! But, when we went this time it wasn't crowded at all so it was a great time to do the pony rides! Usually we have to wait for about a half hour. We didn't wait at all! Avery looked so big in her helmet!
Rylee going for her ride. I think she has a future as a rodeo princess. She always knows when to smile and wave and pose!
Logan riding his pony He looks like he is taking this pretty seriously and hanging on really tight! Avery was a little nervous at first....
but she loved riding the ponies, too. She LOVES horses lately so she was really excited about this! I'm pretty sure that helmet wouldn't be much protection...
Next, we rode the train. Actually, we rode it a few times since there was no one in line. We didn't even have to get off!
Avery likes to put her hands up like a roller coaster
They were REALLY excited when they got to ride in the caboose of the train. It looked like a little jail, but they thought it was SO much better back there! Peeking out the caboose windows
Then we went to see the goats. Rylee was so funny around them. She wanted to get close to them and talk to them....
but as soon as they made a move towards her, she wasn't so sure! I don't think she liked the part of them that could bite.
She liked them much better if they weren't looking at her.
Avery followed the goats all over the place and would sneak in a little touch here and there, but she did not want one of them to approach her and she was very cautious. Especially if their head was close by! She mostly liked to watch the other kids do it.
Right before we left, we found these swings. The kids loved them and would have never left if I hadn't eventually made them. This horse swing was the favorite.
Summer was a little more brave than me and put Rylee and Sky on a swing with her. They were giggling and having so much fun!
By this time, we were all pretty tired! Especially Mom! I think we spent about 4 hours there and I was pooped and a little sick by the end of the day. We had a great day though! It was so nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather and spend some time with our good friends and have some FUN!
I don't know why Logan is making that face, but I thought it was funny....
The kids were sad about leaving, but I was able to get them going since we were meeting Daddy for dinner at Rumbi. I think we were in the car about 2 mintues and Avery was totally zonked out! She even slept through all of dinner in the restaurant. I think all that hay jumping and wondering in the maze really tired her out.