Corn, pumpkins, and straw, oh my!

We finally had a break from our busy social/work/school lives to make a trip to the pumpkin patch. We go to the pumpkin patch almost every year in lieu of picking up some at the local Kroger. This year was especially fun because of Mia. Norwegians don't carve pumpkins and she's not sure they even grow them in the country.

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There are a few local farms which offer hay rides and activities to go along with picking out your pumpkin. We decided on trying a new place, one that had a corn maze. It was a beautiful day and I'm so glad we spent it outside!

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Here is Mia on the hay ride.

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We did the corn maze first. They offer five different mazes at varying length and difficulty. Combined, the mazes total 8 miles. We had maps but in the beginning, decided to just start walking.
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That was a mistake! When we realized there were checkpoints that offered certain rewards, we changed our strategy and started following the map. I was pretty much clueless the whole time. The Polack was pretty good at following the map. Mia was the best though. She led us the entire time. She credits her corn maze skills to orienteering, an activity they do in Norwegian gym class where they have to use a compass and map to run around outside to various checkpoints. Nicklas wanted to lead the group but he didn't want to follow the map. He'd go one way and Mia would go another way and we'd follow Mia and he'd run ahead of the group and go one way while she turned another way. It was entertaining to watch the two of them.

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After the corn maze, we picked out some pumpkins.
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They really are like brothers and sisters!
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After the pumpkins, we took a hayride back to the farm house. They had several activities geared toward the kids including pedal tractor races, sandboxes, and a straw mountain. Nicklas loved the straw tunnel.

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We haven't carved our pumpkins yet. Hopefully that will happen tonight!