Schnepps Farms

for otho's birthday, he wanted to have a pumpkin birthday party. so we invited a couple of his friends to schnepps farms, a giant pumpkin patch full of rides, corn mazes, animals, and go carts. we had gobs of fun and wore ourselves ragged running around from one thing to the next.


we had six kids ages 3-5: cole, abe, tyler f., david, otho, and tyler c. i was a little scared they would be crazy, but each kid was awesome the entire time. they stayed together and never fought. i think that's because they were so excited to play.


the weather was perfect for otho's birthday. there were soft clouds in the sky, and a cool breeze kept us not too warm. i miss fall, when the air turns nippy and i need to pull out jackets -- but i really like this time of year in phoenix too. we are finally in double digits (no more 100+ weather!!) and i can remember why we live here.


we decided to race on the go-carts, which are really paddle carts. ken took 3 kids.


and i took the other half. i must be totally out of shape, because that was the hardest thing to do...pushing that cart through the grass while the kids were screaming faster, faster. one round through the pine-tree trail and i was pooped.


schnepps farms also has a petting zoo. they boys went crazy with laughter feeding and petting and chasing those goats around.


i think the most popular thing during the party was the "roller-coaster rides." we went on those over and over again. here's abe with cole.


tyler really wanted to ride on this blue one.


and this tyler was so excited to go on the flaming airplane.


otho and david rode together..."shooting" at us the entire time.


we had a blast, but one of the most memorable parts of the evening was the corn maze. we went into the 4-acre corn maze when it was still light out. we thought it would take us, what 10 minutes? an hour later, when it was pitch black and our feet were sore from tromping through the maze, and our brains hurt from walking in circles, we gave up. we "cheated" and cut through the corn and ended up on the other side. that was a long hour, and i am not too excited to go back into a corn maze with 6 boys for a very, very long time.