Things to Do - Measure Your Life Through Fall Festivals

Last week, after school let out we celebrated F's 7th birthday with our close friends at Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground (previously reviewed in this post), which is one of our favorite fall festivals, especially on weeknights when the smaller size and toddler-scaled attractions (drive a motorcycle, ride a horse, etc.) make it less overwhelming then Cox Farms (which is also very fun, though quite large).

There's nothing like a fall festival for you to really realize how much your kids have changed, especially as most of the attractions stay somewhat consistent from year to year. This year T rode the big slide by himself - carrying his own haysack up and down the stairs. And I looked on, barely noticed in the background - free (finally) of a stroller and diaper-bag.

As always, the girls couldn't wait for the haunted hayride, though this year they proclaimed it "not scary enough", whereas two years ago all three children fought for the protection of my lap as we made our way past various ghouls and ghosts. And while all the kids had a blast - fighting imaginary bad guys on the pirate ship, flying a plane, merry go rounding, and digging for change in the money/sand pile - I suddenly realized that our fall festival days are numbered. Eventually they'll grow out of this stage. I'm just not sure I will.

When we were at the Pumpkin Playground, I saw a mom desperately trying to convince her children to take one picture together, next to the toddler-sized carousel. The oldest boy (who looked about 10) kept complaining, stating that he was "way way too old" that he couldn't even fit on one of the horses (which was true). But the mom just kept repeating "please, I just need this you guys, just one more time, take this picture for me." And even though I have a few years left to go, I knew EXACTLY how she felt.



There's real money in "money mountain" - the kids found almost 50 cents combined, practically a fortune.



A few scenes from the haunted hayride. Even if the girls disagreed, I was scared (well, a little).

Places to Go - Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground (Burke, VA)

Tuesday started out as a blah day. First of all, we had to take P to the doctor for her asthma, which always makes me sad (I know a ton of other parents have had to face the same issue, but it's really scary when your kid can't breathe). Then T cried all morning. And one of F's headbands broke (always a tragedy). I wanted to quit.

So when my friend called me asking to go to Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground, I was ready for just about anything that would get me out of the house and around other adults. Luckily, Burke's Pumpkin Playground was so awesome (yes, I'm in my thirties and I still use the word awesome, it's a sad state of affairs), that we ended up spending all afternoon there. It is VERY VERY similar to Cox Farms, but on a much smaller scale, making it much more manageable if you have multiple small children. As with Cox, there are slides, a rope swing, a haunted forest hayride, petting zoo, etc. Burke also has these large tubes that kids can roll down a small hill in (the older kids could have spent all day in these). For T, the biggest hit was those riding machines they usually have in malls (you know the type, they sort of gyrate), anyways they had tons of these (a carousel, horses, a car, a motorcyle, etc.) all FOR FREE. the kids could just push the button again and again. They also have food and pumpkins and tons of cheesy decorations. Totally worth the $9 admission ($12 on weekends). But it closes after Halloween, so if you're interested, you need to get there asap.

Have a great holiday everyone! Don't eat too much candy! I'll be back on Monday.

If you need some inspiration, this 8 year old boy's description of fall is just too perfect. Plus, his mom's pictures are pretty amazing as well.