Adventuring at Shuck's Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch {Fall Bucket List 2013}

Disclosure: Shuck's provided us with passes to visit the farm this fall. All opinions expressed are my own.

Is it even fall without a visit to the pumpkin patch? It's one of the most important things on our family's fall bucket list, for sure. There's just something about the smell of the great outdoors mixed with kettle corn and hearing leaves (or corn husks) crunching under your feet. If you're in Kansas City, please add Shuck's Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch to your weekend itinerary before the pumpkin patch season ends! It's our favorite!

Every family adventure has been more exciting this year, since Lincoln is a lot more involved in whatever is happening and remembers the events (like apple picking) enough to beg us to do them again. Lincoln has been asking to look at these photos every time he sees my computer open today. His word for pumpkins is "cump-kins" - could it be any cuter?

We headed to the patch on a sunny afternoon and were all set for some serious fun. I tried really hard, but had no success whatsoever in getting a photo of both kids sitting with the pumpkins. Lincoln was just too excited and continually jumped up to run around and find another pumpkin to hold. Addie was a little more compliant.

She was pretty fascinated with the pumpkins, too - she didn't even try to crawl away when I sat her next to them. She doesn't move as fast as Lincoln, but she doesn't sit still for just anything, either, so they were obviously pretty special pumpkins.

Notice Lincoln running and Andrew chasing;
AKA what happens when we go anywhere as a family.

We also learned that the kids are still not quite old enough to grasp the concept of these adorable photo opps! One day they will, right? For now, I'm still laughing at my little turkeys.

The Corn Crib at Shuck's got a huge makeover this year! By my guess, it's over 4x the size of the original, and it now has a canopy above it to provide shade for optimal digging and playing in the corn kernels!

Best photo of the munchkins together.

With lots of shovels and toys to use to move the corn, this was definitely a big hit. I climbed right in with the kids to get some photos. There was corn in my shoes (and other places), but it was worth it!

Playing in the corn crib reminded me of the first time we took Lincoln to Shuck's. He was so tiny back then! Parents of small babies be warned: yes, to an infant this is like a giant game of "let's see how many of these I can get in my mouth while mom is not looking!"

chickensBaby fashionista.

Shuck's is owned by some dear friends of ours and they offered to let Lincoln and Addie pet the chickens. They were both pretty fascinated!

I was incredibly pregnant when we visited Shuck's last year, so I did not get to experience the barrel train. I hopped onboard with Lincoln this fall and went for what was possibly the bumpiest ride of my life!

Daddy & Addie

Lincoln - of course - loved it and wanted to go multiple times. I was only up for one ride, but he got to climb in with our friend Miss Emmie (the owners' daughter) and go for another round. While we waited for him to come back, we tried to get Addie's photo next to the "How Tall This Fall" sign. She was not incredibly cooperative.

We hadn't been in a corn maze since before the kids were born, but we thought Lincoln might enjoy the 'Lil Shucks maze this year. It was no great surprise that he completely loved it and took off running as soon as he let go of Daddy's hand.

Lincoln did not want to leave the maze or the farm and would probably have continued to run until he fell over from exhaustion if we had let him. We managed to pick out some pumpkins and get them to the car without anyone having a complete meltdown.

It was another super successful pumpkin patch trip! I think it gets more fun every single year. And once we had our pumpkin selections at home, we had even more fun carving the big one - the first time we have carved a pumpkin since the year Andrew and I were dating. Yay for new traditions with our little ones!

Disclosure: Shuck's provided us with passes to visit the farm this fall. All opinions expressed are my own. We would go to Shuck's every year whether or not we received a free family pass - we love it that much. For more information, you can read my Disclosure Policy.