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.
Fall means fun at Maxwell's! This is one of our favorite traditions and I'm so glad that covid did not cancel this for us.. Some things were different (no corn pit - booo!) but most things were the same, and that felt good after the strange year we've had. We partied hard for 3 hours and 95% of the time our crew was happy. Rat rollers, apple cannons, obstacle courses, duck races, sack slides, cow train, and more!! The only thing we didn't do was pick a pumpkin, because we already chose some from Walmart's "patch," haha.
The apple cannons are a paid "add-on," but they are fun, so we normally get a bucket to share
The duck races that inevitably led to lots of crying. Next year we are going to try to remember to skip this activity since it never ends well.
First year Davey has been able to climb the pyramid without help!
Sophie thought she was too old to ride on the cow train, but I convinced her she wouldn't not break the cow car and told her to hop in. She even got a turn with the cow bell!
October can still be really hot in Texas. We went first thing in the morning to try and beat the heat, but still had our sweatshirts off by lunch.
As my only child who can't run away, Griffin got to pose in all the little photo op displays they had set up around the farm. I sure love his cute little face!
One perk of covid was only 10 kids allowed on the jumping pillows at a time. Normally these things are a collision waiting to happen, but this year they had plenty of space to run and jump!
King Corn and Queen Pumpkin on their thrones
And Charlie in the giant cow chair!
Since I'm always the one with the camera I never end up in any photos. I asked Dave to get a picture of me and the boys and this was the best we could do. At least there's proof I was there.
This year we left for Dallas on December 18, which left us just a few short weeks to squeeze in all the local Christmas fun. Now that we have lived in Amarillo for a few Christmases, the kids are starting to remember and look forward to the different activities from years past and we keep discovering new fun things around us!
In addition to our usual favorites, this year we also went to a synchronized light display at a house owned by one of Dave's students that was fun. We also attended the elementary school Christmas party that we weren't able to go to last year. And Charlie's favorite activity of the season was just driving around to look at lights. Our neighborhood has some really impressive houses and we drove through at least a few times a week to enjoy the light displays before leaving town.
Grandma Howe sent Sophie this adorable reindeer dress
We decorated for Christmas and even Diamond got a little something to make her tank festive
These look more like fall pictures, but we had a really nice day in December so the boys and I went outside to clean up all the leaves that had blown into our backyard.
The kids always look forward to walking Candy Cane Lane and this year we were lucky enough to find Santa again at the end of the street!
Sophie asked for more CDs, Charlie said he wanted a choo choo, and Davey just wanted to get his free candy cane and leave :)
Sophie wrote a letter to Santa on behalf of all the kids this year
Sophie drew this adorable Christmas T-Rex picture for Davey
While the boys and I were gone in Seattle, Sophie and daddy had lots of fun back in Amarillo. They went out to eat, got donuts, and met Santa at the ward party!
Davey's letter group had a Christmas party where they each brought a book to exchange and made a cute reindeer headband craft
Sleepy Hollow Elementary had a Science With Santa event that we went to one night. They had a few different activity stations and story time with Santa in the library. Sophie set a record by stacking 14 sugar cubes, and since we never checked back later in the night to see if anyone surpassed her, we let her assume that she was the champion!
We also were able to squeeze in a visit to the Botanical Gardens for their light display before leaving town for Dallas. Davey looks a little stunned in this photo, but he was able to pull himself together enough to ask Santa for a Remote Control Batman car.
We celebrated "Grandmari" Christmas early so the kids would have some time to enjoy their gifts before we had to leave them to go to Dallas. They loved everything they received!
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