Farms & Field Trips

It has been in the 70's and 80's here for the past 6-8 weeks. Naturally, that means it hasn't really felt like fall around these parts. This has good and bad points.1. I'm less apt to break out the hot cider and boots. And I LOVE my cider and boots.2. We had a pool day just a couple of weeks ago, in October! OCTOBER!3. The pumpkin and apple field trip may be a bit... sweaty.Of course, mother nature had a little fun at our expense.Hurricane Michael hit us with just the outside of his raging weather pattern. This brought wind, rain and COLD the night before Bubba's school field trip to the farm. As I'm still nursing Groot I had set it up that Bubba, Groot and I would go to the field trip and Little Bear would attend her dance class and join us at the field trip after, thanks to bit help from Nona.We awoke the day of the field trip to gray skies. Ew. But no rain. So a win in my book.As I got the kids ready for what was going to be quite a crazy day I checked the weather. It said 51 degrees. FIFTY-ONE. The day before it had been in the low 80's. Okay, I can handle this. What do we wear in 50-degree weather? Snowsuits? No. Ummm. Jackets- yes, jackets. And a hat! Yes. You've got this. It's not raining. We're good.Off to the field trip we go.Once we arrived I knew we were in for an adventure. Finding parking that wasn't in a muddy puddle was near impossible. Once we secured our parking and I was confident that we wouldn't get stuck we hopped out. Enter: Wind, stage right. A cold wind at that. Less than the 50 degrees promised by the weather channel. I bundle the baby up next to me in the Tula, because you know, body heat. Get Bubba situated as best as possible and head over to meet the class. We all looked like shivering leaves as we waited for the tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. It was here, at 9 am, that I texted Nona letting her know that she should save herself and Little Bear. We'd be meeting them at home. It was too cold for this.Of course, Groot had slept in this morning (YAY!) but hadn't eaten yet (boo). So I had pumped a bottle to take with me for just this occasion. We'll be on a tractor ride, I'll be sitting. Perfect place to feed a baby, right? Wrong. So wrong. This is a working farm. There are no paved or gravel roads for this tractor AND it has rained not 3 hours before. Poor Groot got his bottle and an introduction to the fall elements of wind and chilly crisp air. Sorry, bud! Also, have you even really lived if you haven't had to keep a bottle warm, on a tractor ride to a pumpkin patch with a hungry baby and 20 preschoolers and their parents? I think not.  Bubba, on the other hand, was having a great time with his friends, thank goodness.We arrive at the pumpkin patch after a thoroughly bumpy ride. No need to burp the baby! Low and behold, I start to see blue sky- yes! Bring on the sun! Bubba spends some time combing the patch for the perfectly cute pumpkin. He did a great job picking one out the best one. We all trudge back to the tractor and back to the farm. Then it was on to the pumpkin and apple learning portion. Once they had finished herding the cat-like-preschoolers and sharing their seeds and growing notes we were released from the guided portion of our trip!This farm has an abundance of playsets, climbing places and a giant bouncy pillow! A toddlers dream. Off we went with some of his favorite friends to play, climb, run and bounce. Along with the plethora of play spaces came an overabundance of, you guessed it, mud. Mud, mud, everywhere. Bubba managed to avoid *most* of it, thank goodness but some of his friends weren't so lucky. One tag along siblings went face first into a 4-inch deep puddle of mud, water and leaves. The poor thing was covered, shoulders to toes in wet ickiness. There was nothing we could have done to stop him and his grandma just laughed. She knows how this goes. Couldn't stop him but I'm sure he learned a lesson.After a little more than an hour of playtime the temperature still hadn't climbed above 58* and we decided that we had exhausted the play spaces AND our patience for mud-avoidance. We gathered the kiddos, their pumpkins and said our thank yous to the teachers. I put Bubba in the car, after removing his muddy shoes and we headed home to meet Little Bear and Nona for a delicious, and warm, lunch.He had the BEST time playing with his friends and seeing the different parts of the farm. I look forward to going back with all three kids in the near future on a sunnier and warmer day. All in all, it was a fun, but exhausting time. Next field trip, Hubs is going.I'll take that hot cider now. And where are my boots!?Be Great,M