The kids had a huge fight at home and I almost called off our night at Maxwell's, but they pulled themselves together and I'm so glad they did because it was a magical night 🎅🎄🌟 Each time we visit there are a few more decorations, more lights, and more Christmas spirit. I think I'm beginning to love Maxwell's for the holidays even more than in fall.
We got a wonderfully mild night which helped everyone's morale
Visiting Santa - requests this year were a Lego set (Sophie), Play Doh (Charlie), off Santa's lap and back to mom (Griffin) and a camera (Davey)
Davey looking handsome in his sweater
Picture by Sophie ❄️❄️
Doesn't this just burst with the spirit of the season?!
Roasting marshmallows always makes for a nice break to warm up by the fire and have a snack
These painted haybales reminded me a little bit of toilet paper, but were otherwise cute
The lines for the apple canons are way shorter than fall season
Maxwell's 2021 🎃 Our visit had a rough start with so much bickering and whining, but things settled down after some snacks and we were able to have a fun day at the pumpkin farm!! It was crowded (all of Amarillo had the same plan) but the weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and there were activites at every turn.
Sophie loved the new obstacle course, Davey bounced his pants off on the jumping pillows, Charlie ate his way through about 2000 calories and Griffin ran away to the tractor trikes every chance he got. Happy Fall Y'all!!
The reality of going places with young kids - there will inevitably be rough moments and likely a few emotional fires to work through
Our little Texas baby
Sophie always goes for max thrills. We didn't know it at the time, but the girl in the striped sweater was Kate, who later would become one of her good friends
The cow train is a classic favorite
Taking a snack break
Pumpkin heads
Corn kings on their throne
Griffin loved the trikes, even though he couldn't make them go on his own
Proof of mom
And proof of dad
One way to keep them looking little is to put them in a giant chair :)
I have a baby photo of each kid that I display during fall and it was time to take Griffin's so he could join the collection. Maxwell's always has so many great photo op stations and I was able to get a great shot of Griffin that I'll love seeing on my shelf year after year.
We love it when the rodeo comes to town! Like last time, it started with a chuck wagon dinner, which was very interesting this time around - a huge sausage in a tortilla with mustard as the only condiment. The kids were not into it and ate only chips and cookies for dinner, but both Dave and I ate our "cowboy hotdog." It wasn't bad, but we were a little disappointed when we found out that the next night they were going to be serving brisket. Maybe next year we'll go on Saturday instead.
The rodeo portion started at 7, but we went over early to save some seats on the front row, and then walked around all the vendor booths and took a peek at all the animals in the holding pens. Every year the kids get a little more expensive to take places (not as many free tickets), but we can also go do fun things without it being a huge challenge or disaster. We were up for 3 hours past bedtime watching broncos, roping, and cutting and it was so much fun!
I have seen longhorns several times now since moving to Texas, but I will always be impressed by those massive horns
Charlie making a cool cowboy pose
The did not have a mechanical bull to ride this year, so the kids at to sit on this hay bale instead. It wasn't thrilling enough for Sophie, but it was perfect for Charlie.
The other kids handled the late night really well, but Griffin was a squirmy wild animal most of the time. Eventually we gave up trying to sit with him and took turns pushing him around the arena in the stroller.
Sophie watching a cow get roped right below our seats
Halloween this year consisted of carving pumpkins and going trick or treating. There weren't any school parades or ward parties or community events, but it turns out we didn't really miss them all that much. The biggest concerns we had were weather related, but luckily there was lots of sun on the two days leading up to Halloween to help melt all the snow and ice from our big storm, and by the 31st the sidewalks were clear and dry. It was so nice out that night we didn't even need to wear coats to Trick or Treat!
Last year I waited to long to buy pumpkins and they were all sold out mid-month so we never got to carve any. This year I made sure to snag some early and then we carved them as a family on Halloween Eve.
The kids do not like cleaning out the guts, but with four pumpkins to prep, there was no way I could do it all on my own. It was either help, or no pumpkin for you!
Charlie was the easiest request this year - just a happy face
Davey wanted me to make him a Mario pumpkin, but I didn't have the time or energy to figure out something that complicated so he got a Goomba (from Mario) instead
Sophie wanted me to make her pumpkin match her shirt! I thought I did a pretty good job.
Griffin went to bed before I got around to his pumpkin so he didn't get to give any input or take a picture with the final result, which ended up being a lion.
For some reason I did a little impromptu photo shoot of the kids in the Halloween shirts. I don't remember why I did this, but I got some cute photos of them!
Trick or Treating was different this year. Our neighborhood has an older demographic and there were definitely less houses participating this year. We had to try about 12 houses when we first started out before finding one that opened with candy. It was still a successful night though and the kids brought home plenty. They just had to walk further to get it!
Our house decorated for the trick or treaters, of which we had about 5
Our sweet neighbor saw on Facebook that I was making the kids Mario costumes for Halloween and she put together these cute mystery blocks with chocolate coins inside! They were such a fun surprise and the kids thought they were so fun!
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