{Mommy Style Field Trip} The Big Orange Pumpkin Farm, Celina, Texas

This fall I wanted to take Annelisa to a pumpkin patch to see the sights, smell the animals, and simply find some pumpkins! After several rainy weekends, we picked Saturday, October 19 to be our day to go! We decided on the The Big Orange Pumpkin Farm in Celina, Texas just north of McKinney. The weather was especially crisp and cool with plenty of sunshine. Annelisa, her daddy, and I had a fun time while on the Farm. We did all there was to do and then journeyed home with our collection of five pumpkins!

We started the morning by feeding the animals...

Then we went on a hayride to find out what happened to the farmer! 

Waiting for the hayride

Then we explored a pumpkin field... Annelisa especially liked running with her daddy! 

Then we walked over to complete the maze...

Finally, we ended our morning picking out our jack-o-lantern pumpkins and a few smaller ones to make a centerpiece inside. My little pumpkin wasn't much in the mood to pose for anymore pictures with the pumpkins! 

This picture preceded tears by moments. 

"Pick me up, daddy!"

All in all a fun, fall day with our little family. Annelisa quickly went to sleep on our way home! Looking forward to next year and doing it again!

{Mommy Style Field Trip} Summer Sunflowers

This summer an area family that farms several separate acres around McKinney, Allen, and Fairview, Texas decided to plant GIANT sunflowers as a part of their crop rotation! I noticed one particular field ablaze in its yellow glory yesterday morning on my way to get my hair cut. It was gorgeous with the early morning eastern sun! All the flowers had recently bloomed and they were showing their happy faces to all of us driving south on Hwy 75. So that evening after dinner, I convinced my husband to go on a little field trip with Annelisa and me to see them up close and personal! I will say that we stood one row deep into the field for some of our pictures, but we did not intend to hurt the crop or damage it in any way.

Unfortunately, as news of this particular field spread through the area not all visitors respected that this field of sunflowers is a crop to the farmer! It's part of their livelihood!  It was reported that some visitors were clipping and taking the flowers home or that some of the plants around the edges of the field were trampled. The police were on the scene often giving citations to those parked in the fire lane of the nearby Wal-Mart parking lot or crossing the later added trespassing signs and caution tape.

I have found so much joy in driving past the fields in the surrounding area and hope that the farmer(s) will consider planting sunflowers in the future! They were beautiful!

Here are some pictures from our Mommy-Style Field trip!

Not sure what I'm doing, but Annelisa is awfully cute! 

 Commence Daddy Swings! 

Pure JOY! 

{Mommy Style Field Trip} Dallas Blooms

Now that Annelisa is a toddler, I thought it was high time for some "Mommy-Style" field trips! For our first outing, we went to the Dallas Arboretum with our friends Aly and Asher. I've always wanted to visit the Arboretum, especially during the Dallas Blooms spring event, yet I had never been before. This is especially interesting considering we lived around the corner from the Arboretum for the the first two years we were married. Nevertheless, it was an especially fun day of enjoying picture perfect spring weather in Dallas!

The Arboretum is best seen through pictures rather than my words! Enjoy a look back at our day!

All loaded up in the wagon, ready for our day to begin! 

Asher "read" the brochure to lead us on our journey!

I love our silly faces! 

Riding the Mayan slide

A few of the Blooms! 

Such a handsome little man! 

"How Big I AM!" 

 My precious little lady

These pictures are credited to Aly Pray Photography. 

All four of us

All good things come to an end! She slept the whole way home! 

Already looking forward to our next trip to the Arboretum in the fall!