Autumn Acres Field Trip

On a whim a couple of weeks ago I threw together a field trip to a place up here called Autumn Acres.  They made it easy by answering my messages right away and knowing exactly how to run a field trip!  I invited the homeschoolers from our "old" (but still current because we don't have "new") group and then extended an invite to the homeschool Facebook group up here and had a nice, but not too large gathering of folks commit to attend.

Some of our Missouri friends came to the house first to feed their kids and themselves before the field trip - it just made logistical sense considering the field trip started at 1 and they had an hour and a half drive first.  

I thought a lot about safety before I planned this field trip, and I tell ya, there's no right way to handle life right now.  Millions of kids are back in school everyday with their friends - that doesn't mean it's right and it doesn't mean it's wrong - but this *is* part of school for our kids.  I decided that I needed to be brave and trust the people we had invited to the trip to stay home if they were symptomatic or had been recently exposed to covid, and trust God with the rest.  We washed hands well, per our normal everyday life, and were happy to open our home to our friends.

The kids played hard in the backyard, with one million calls from the mothers pleading "eat your lunch!" and "take a bite, please!" as we tried to get some food down them before it was field trip time.  With one toilet, we started the potty line 30 minutes before time to leave, although I'm not sure our humble restroom took a break the entire time our friends were here.  LOL.  Lots of people means lots of potty breaks.

Mike got off work at noon so he could join us for the field trip.  He was home in time to grab some lunch, change out of his dress clothes, and help me get our crew loaded.

The field trip was wonderful, and our hostess was so very kind.  

There was a corn cannon and a slingshot to shoot over the pond.

The corn pit was a big hit!  We found corn all evening on the floor after we got home that kept falling out of the kids' clothes - Ev had it in her diaper and she was wearing a onesie and leggings.

There was a corn maze, hay bales to jump, animals to pet, a jumping pillow, little wagon trains pulled behind a lawnmower, a big slide, a pirate ship play area, and a wagon ride!  We had two hours for the kids to run, play, and have a wonderful time.  I didn't do a great job taking pictures, but I did have a great time with our friends and my people.

I had to convince Mia to give the slide a try.  She told me after we got home that she went on it lots more times and was glad she had tried it.

Natalee had a wonderful day.  She climbed hay bales, did the maze, climbed the slide stairs, and felt great all afternoon.  Her therapy work is paying off and the new brace is doing it's job!

These little girls were all born last year - Evie in August, Kadence in July, and Martha in November.  What a joy to see them altogether.

We took the babies on the jumping pillow after the wagon ride had left with half of the attendees and most of the rest had gone back to the slide and corn pit.  They loved it!

Just a girl contemplating life on a giant pillow.

{and giving hugs}

Carpetball!  

Evie, would you sit on this big pumpkin in your pumpkin outfit and let Mama take your picture?

No thank you, Mama, I would not.

Natalee and her friend, Kalyn

My wagon riding buddy for the last 15 years.  Our hostess gave a great lesson on corn during the wagon ride and even I learned some new things!

Xavier and his friend, Alex

No one was ready to leave when our time was up, but isn't that how good days go?  They were, however, tired, and in need of drinks and rest.  It was a sunny and lovely day, but also windy, so the water I'd brought they drank through quickly because the wind and the playing dried them out!

cousin friends!

It was a perfect field trip - lots of space to find your comfort level, lots of things to do, and lots of fun to be had!

On the way out, we let our 5 sweets choose pumpkins to buy, and I smiled when I saw that they chose 2 large, 1 medium, 1 medium small, and 1 small.  Little stair step pumpkins.  I'll take pictures of those when we paint them later this month!

Thanks so much to our friends for joining us on a spur of the moment field trip and to Autumn Acres for a perfect afternoon!  The Beeler hearts went to bed happy!