Autumn Acres Field Trip

Thursday, September 29th, was Caleb's first field trip with his preschool class.  The kids grabbed their sack lunches, hopped on the bus and took a grand adventure through Oskaloosa to Autumn Acres.  Autumn Acres is in association with Stam's Greenhouse; they have converted part of their large yard into an area with Fall-like activities to do, specifically geared towards children but still fun for the whole family.  Josh agreed to watch Sarah Rose for a few hours so that I could accompany Caleb and his class for the trip.  The arrangement worked out terrific, as Sarah Rose was in need of some Daddy time and Caleb was in need of some Mommy time.  I had the camera with me so there are no pictures from the Daddy/Daughter time (though I heard they had a great five hours of harvesting together!), but the pictures from the Mommy/Son time hopefully shows how much fun Caleb and I (and the rest of the class) had!





Caleb's "buddy for the day" for their buddy system was Jayden.   I've heard a lot of stories about Jayden since the first week of school, so it was a pleasure to finally officially meet him!




The corn box was a big hit.  Caleb was a little confused at first because when he combines with Josh, he knows that corn is very important from watching his daddy and papa take such great care with it.  But it didn't take long to convince him it was okay, that this corn was special corn set aside just to play with and then he joined right in.




The innertubes were a big hit.  We stacked them around the kids and then pushed them over.  They loved it!




Getting ready for the hayride!





The kids were given instructions to watch out for the scarecrows scattered throughout the field.  They were quite excited to spot one!




Ms. Sylvia, one of our leaders for the day, giving a lesson about corn.  The kids listened so nicely!



Merek, Jayden and Caleb checking out the donkey.



Group shot!




The kids loved the hay bale maze.  I thought they were supposed to go through the maze on the ground, but I guess it was meant to be climbed on. 





Traffic jam!!!  Maybe they should think about installing mini traffic lights for when preschoolers get backed up?




Say cheese!




Miss Atchison and the some of the parents joined right in!  I stayed on the ground at the end of the maze to lend a helping hand for those who didn't want to jump off by themselves.  By the time we were done, though, all the kids donned their risk-taking hats and were jumping off the end by themselves!




Brynlee's (I think) SuperDad leading the way!




Soon the kids discovered "The Tube".




A few of the kids climbed in so Miss Atchison could tumble them. 
And then....




....just about all of the class was crammed in!  Super Dad then pushed because even teachers need pictures!  I'm sure it was quite the heavy load, too!  The kids soon caught on to rolling with the tube instead of being tumbled, but still the giggles coming from inside were priceless!



Before long, we moved to the slingshot.  Each kid got to shoot an apple across the pond.



Even the teachers and parents took a turn!  I accidentally deleted the picture of Miss Atchison's turn (oops!), but here is Mrs. LaRue taking her turn.  The adults were pretty timid about taking their turns....until a Snickers was offered if they hit the targets in the middle of the pond!  We'll do anything for chocolate ;-) 




The kids also had a great time in the train!




I encouraged Caleb to try the string maze, but the little stinker just crawled under the strings!  He was in such a hurry to get to another fun activity that he just went the quickest way he could.  Thank goodness for  Shout, every mom's great solution for grass stains on nearly new jeans!




Trying out the rope swing.



I think one of the biggest hits for the day was the giant slide.  All the kids had a terrific time on it, either going down solo or with their buddy!



For two summers now, every time Caleb hears the Adventureland commercial on T.V., he asks if he can go.  I've always told him that he can go when he's ten.  But when he went down the giant slide, I told him to put his hands in the air because that's the way they do the roller coasters at Adventureland.  He thought he was pretty cool!




Caleb and Jayden trying their hand at the lasso.




Another turn in the innertubes.




Several of the kids practiced for snow angels this winter!




One last class picture at the Three Little Pig's house before boarding the bus for home.  I posted just a few of the pictures I took, but from these "few" I hope you can tell what a grand time that was had by all!