Stauffer's Fall Fest

On Sunday, September 30, we decided to stay home from church because Ryan was sick. Cousin Jess had emailed us that Stauffer's of Kissel Hill was having its fall fest both this weekend and the following, so I decided to take the older boys to it (after confirming with Shawn that he thought it was a good plan). I had looked online to see what the events were, and we drove to the Lititz location. I was surprised that there were NO signs to tell us where things were or where to go. But, I'm not shy so I simply walked up to the garden center and asked, and a gal there pointed to some of the locations where things would be. It was empty, and I think that's because it was so poorly marked. But, it worked out for us!

The first thing the boys did was a hay maze, which was for smaller kids, I think. They quickly walked around the hay bales and came back out.

Next, we found the free mini golf. There were just a couple lanes with greens in the middle of the garden center, but the boys still had fun trying to putt the ball in. I tried to show them how to line up their clubs to get a good solid hit on the ball, and they enjoyed putting.

 

 Both got their ball into the hole eventually!

 

They also played pumpkin hopscotch as we walked, but they passed by the free sidewalk chalk where they could draw. We do that a lot at home on our driveway, so they were anxious to see what else was in store for the day.

 Next, we found the bean bag toss. Weren't these jack-o-lanterns cute? Don't you love Caleb's expression above? He got his bean bag in the mouth right away and this was his exuberant face afterward!

Of course, I had the boys stop to pose for pictures along the way. Since it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining bright so both kids have taken to closing their eyes. Oh well! They're still cuties!

We did pumpkin/gourd tic-tac-toe. Joshua understands the concept, but Caleb still needs some help. He's so focused on getting his own three that he forgets to block his brother. So cute!

Both boys highly enjoyed this life size game, so we did it a couple times (since no one else was there!).

Here's Joshua with the win, this time!

Next the boys and I waited to go on the hay wagon ride. There were a couple other families who were there and came on the tractor ride with us. The one mom offered to take a picture of the boys and me. :) Her son's name was also Joshua.

Here's Caleb - he LOVES these rides!

And here's my Bean! He was also having fun!

To my surprise, Joshua agreed to get his face painted this year. One of the children on the wagon ride had a ghost on his face, and Joshua thought it looked neat, so he asked to get a ghost on his face. I asked around where the face painting was, and I was told it was inside. So, inside we went!

Here was the finished product of the ghost. Joshua even wore it to his soccer game later that afternoon. :)

Since big brother agreed to get his face painted, Caleb said okay to getting his face painted, too. He chose a jack-o-lantern that I thought was cute!

I got a couple pictures of Caleb with his face painted, and I'm glad I did. By the time we had gotten to the car, he rubbed it completely off his cheek "because it itched" and he thought it was on the other cheek. Oh well!

Here are the boys together with their faces painted.

Obviously by the picture above, I realized I forgot to post about the boys making their necklaces. As I was asking around about where to get faces painted, we happened upon the "make-it-take-it pasta necklaces" station. The boys sat down to make their creations.

Some kids did specific patterns, but my boys just simply put on whatever looked good to them at the time. A father of children making necklaces across the table from my boys asked if they were twins. I smiled and said they were two years apart. We get that question quite often. :)

They had pumpkin painting if you purchased pumpkins. While the price wasn't bad, I realized that I hadn't come prepared to take pumpkins covered in wet paint home in my minivan. So, we decided to paint pumpkins at home another time. They also had a "make-your-own-scarecrow station" for $12.99. Again, the price didn't seem awful for getting an outfit and all the hay to make the scarecrow, but I decided against it. We never did find the pumpkin bowling station or a couple other ones listed on the flyer. Hopefully in years to come, they will have a better system of marking where things are, etc. But, it was still fun, and I can't complain about free events!

Here was Caleb's finished necklace!

And here was Joshua's!

At the very end of our time there, I let the boys play in the corn table. They LOVE these! After awhile, I told them it was time to go home and show Daddy and Schnook our fun necklaces and face paint. They said okay.

I took one last picture of the boys in front of these pretty purple mums before we left. I got us takeout to eat for lunch and then Shawn took Joshua to his soccer game while the younger boys napped. It started to lightly rain that afternoon, so they finished a little early. That evening I took the boys to king's kids choir. It had been a fun day for the older boys, and I think Ryan had a lot of fun playing with Daddy, too. They are buddies! :)