Sykes and Cooper Farm

Allow me to introduce you to my new favorite fall tradition...the pumpkin patch/corn maze/farm combo. It's basically everything wonderful about fall all wrapped up into one awesome experience...plus, adorable photo opportunities! I've been begging Jared to take me to a corn maze for years now, but he claimed that was a "family with kids" activity and that he wanted to wait until we had kids to do that sort of thing. Lame excuse. Plus, we basically never have free weekends to do stuff like this because of our season tickets to FSU Football. We've got priorities around here. However, since this was Peyton's first Halloween/Fall, I insisted that we partake in all those fun, family, fall traditions this year for her sake. Ok, so really for my sake. Alright, mostly for the sake of my camera documenting these experiences. I couldn't possibly allow myself to look back on Peyton's first Fall and not have seized the opportunity to pose for photos on the farm for heaven's sake. I mean, what kind of mother would I be if I allowed such a travesty? A sane one, perhaps.

It was about 90 degrees on this "crisp" (as in burned baked in the oven crisp) fall day, and I had to haul about 50 pounds of baby crap from the field we parked in up to the farm, but oh my goodness did I have a blast. It was all worth it to get this adorable photo of my pissed off husband, over-heated sweaty 4 month old, and myself surrounded by the goodness of fall. Happiest mommy on the block right there.

If you live in Northeast Florida, I highly recommend Sykes and Cooker Farms in Elkton (South Saint Augustine near Palatka) for this type of family fall activity. We had a great time and I can't wait to take Peyton back next year when she is actually old enough to truly enjoy it.

Of course, we dragged our entire families along with us to suffer in the heat and watch our 4 month old be completely clueless about what the heck was going on around her. I'm pretty sure that my husband is never going to forgive me for forcing him to do this. Too bad, daddy.

Daddy is a least pretending to enjoy our little outing...even if only for Peyton's sake. That's parenting right there folks. 

Because everyone needs a family photo with a tractor. Welcome to North Florida. 

Peyton loves to dance with Grandma DeeDee

 Peyton's first pumpkin!

Only grandparents would tolerate scorching heat on a farm for nothing more than a photo and an experience (that the kid won't even remember) with an infant. Grandparents are so amazing.

We accidentally started out on the kids version of the corn maze, instead of the adult one. Well that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we totally got lost anyways. This little family with small children let us go ahead of them at the beginning of the maze and by the time we found our way out, they were already done way before us. Epic fail. Apparently, it takes more than college degrees to get you out of a kiddie corn maze successfully.

And this is why my sister-in-law and I are basically best friends...we both share a love for acting like complete idiots together. No shame. Happy Fall Y'all!