Fall FAIL!

The girls only have a half-day of school every Wednesday. This week, the weather was AMAZING and we wanted to take full advantage because, let's face it, the rain is about to start (and not stop until May, or so they say). Because it's FALL, we figured a trip to a pumpkin patch would be prefect. We did a little research and found a place about 50 minutes away called "HOFFMAN'S". It boasted a Merry-go-Round, Bounce Houses, A petting Zoo, An exotic animals Zoo, and more. It sounded like the perfect place. We drove the 50 minutes and were greeted out front by replica "Alvin and the Chipmunk" and "The Simpsons". Cool. But it went down hill from there.

Below are some of the more unusual animals at the zoo. There were located in horrible cages behind 2 different fences, so getting good pictures wasn't easy. The first charming fellow you can't see very well is distantly related to the raccoon and was busy trying to chew it's own leg off. Next we found 2 charming little "Joeys", as Kayla kept referring to them. We wandered around and located the very cool 3 month old Tiger and Lion cubs. SO playful (and Brian's favorite part of the visit). But the winner of the weird, hands down, belonged to the final figure below. To appreciate it, you might need to click on the image to get a clearer shot. This unfortunate animal is what you would get if you crossed a DEER (a very small one) and a RABBIT (a very large one). The head looked like a deer, and it had LONG skinny front legs like a deer. BUT it had the body of a rabbit. It was classified as a member of the rodent family. It was the freakiest thing we have ever seen. It could walk around like a deer, but also jump like a rabbit. So wrong. It joins the platypus as one of those animals that shows us that God does indeed have a sense of humor...or, nature messed up.
There was also a field of HUGE white pumpkins begging to be climbed on. Our kids kindly obliged such an obvious ploy.
And here we have the cousins lined up in a row. From Left to Right: Zoey, Cassidy, Brogan, Abby, Kayla and Jack. (Sadly baby Ben stayed home to take a nap. He really didn't miss much though).
Now, this place might look fine. The photos make it look cooler then it really is. Everything was SOOOO icky and dirty and not well kept. In order to take part in any of the activities, you had to pay...cash only...which you had to get from the ATM with a $4.00 service charge. And, it smelled like urine. So, although the kids probably count this as a cool experience, the adults involved give it a big FAIL. Too bad. Fortunately, it sets the bar pretty low and we left from here and directly drove to Joe's Farm. 10 minutes from our home. Lovely. Charming. Clean. Perfect. We are hoping to try 1 or 2 more pumpkin patches before the season ends, or the rain begins to fall.