Denver Downs- Henry.

Last Tuesday, the Clemson MOMS club rented out Denver Downs, the local corn maze and pumpkin patch.

But this was no ordinary pumpkin patch- it was awesome! They had a mini hay bale maze that June loved.

A barrel train that June refused to leave.

An awesome pulley system that took goat food up the "bridge" where the goats could eat it.

I stayed here for a long time.

It was a wonderful day, though a little warm for mama. Seriously, when is it going to cool down? It was well over 80 degrees and papa lost the sweatshirt soon after this picture was taken. Doesn't this look like a calendar shot?

We played with these pumps that floated ducks to the next barrel.

Then we took a hay ride out to the pumpkin field and picked out pumpkins. Check out Juner's tiny pumpkin.

Here's a good close-up of Junie's round teeth.

Hey mama, get a hair cut!

Papa couldn't help but try his hand at football.

While Junie rode a steer.

We took another ride on the barrel cows and luckily we were at the end of the line, so June could stay on for another ride.

In the shelter house were huge stacks of hay and hanging horsie tire swings.

Of course, I had to have a turn of my own.

While June stayed to swing on the horsie, mama and I ventured into the big corn maze. I wasn't too interested in it until I found out that the map they gave us had points we were supposed to find in the field. Then I had a great time trying to find them.

Here's what the field looked like from the air. We spent a lot of time up in that moon.

Before we left, we discovered the sand boxes filled with corn.

Serious fun throwing corn all over. Mama found hard kernels of corn around the house for days.

Camping with the Paytons- Sunday- June.

Our blood must be thin because it was about 48 degrees when we woke up Sunday morning and we were cold. Mama and Georgie were the only smart ones who slept with hats. Luckily, Henry and I were tired enough to sleep all night.

There was no way Georgie was going to be cold. She wore a t-shirt, a jumper, pajamas, a fleece sleep sack, the swaddling blanket and a fleece blanket wrapped around her. Mama felt a little bad that she just put her on the ground to sleep, but Georgie was definitely the easiest kid to take care of all weekend. Everyone should go camping with a 6 week old.

She was so pleased just to be outside that she slept for 3 hours in her car seat after we all woke up at 7am. She even slept through the kids yelling and screaming as the adults sat bleary eyed around the fire waiting for the percolator coffee to brew.

While the grown-ups cleaned up, Gracie sat with George for a good 20 minutes trying to make her smile. She succeeded often.

I wanted my turn too. I sure look rough. My chin is chapped from my nukie and Miss Becky noticed I even had dirt on my eyelashes.

This big kids were allowed to roast their hot dogs over the fire, but I had to stay away.

After lunch, Gracie led us in a noisy round of "fly like a bird" around the fallen tent.

Preschool must be paying off, because I surprised everyone with a rousing rendition of "The wheels on the bus."

Mister Andy was happy to join me when it progressed to the "Cows on the bus go moo, moo, moo" and "The sheep on the bus go baa, baa, baa."

After we packed up, we visited the "living history" farm. I was bummed that it was just old buildings and not an animal farm. We did amuse ourselves by posing George in the cradle.

She fits right in!

Gracie tried on some pajamas.

And we managed to find some chickens to satisfy our desire to see animals.

When we finished the rounds of all the old buildings, we were all in the mood to get our pictures taken. Things sure have changed since we lived in Winston! The crazy, loud 3 year olds have matured into slightly less loud kids, though Gracie still knows how to push Henry's buttons. The babies are now fun toddlers and Georgie makes 5- which means we officially outnumber the adults.

All the grownups agreed that the kids are a perfect age for camping and that we should try to get a few more trips in before Georgie starts walking and things get crazy again.

The Paytons sat for a nice family picture.

And we even got a shot of the 5 dirty, greasy Turners.

The little girls dec

Gracie announced her intentions to marry Henry and asked for a picture of just the two of them. Henry asked Gracie to please stop trying to hold his hand.

Next up, the two little girls. I wasn't so sure about it because mama had to pull out warmer clothes in a pinch (remember, it's still 80 plus degrees down here and this is the first time I've worn pants since April) and she pulled out this Steelers shirt without realizing it was the shirt of our most hated rivals. It was a hand-me-down from a friend and mama assured me that if it ever was appropriate to wear a Steelers shirt, it was too a campground where there was at least a 50% change of getting ruined.

I was so happy, I gave Audrey a big smooch.

Now the original four!

And the Turner kids!

Here's Henry's catalog shot showing off those snazzy acid-washed jeans.

And I cute picture by the parking lot. Can you tell how tired we are? Before we left, we stopped at King's Mountain Battlefield, where we learned about the Revolutionary War battle that took place there.

We didn't even make it out of the park before I was asleep. When we got home, we were so filthy, mama demanded we take off our clothes outside and immediately head upstairs for a bath. A sure sign of a great weekend.

Camping with the Paytons-Saturday- Henry.

We were so excited when mama and papa told us we were going camping with our best Winston Salem friends- the Paytons! We haven't seen them since Easter and were ready for some good rowdy fun!

Mama set up our little tent and designated it as our play tent. Mostly it was an effort to keep kids out of the "sleep tents" so she would have to wash muddy footprints off all the sleeping bags and blankets. Everyone was surprised when Gracie and I spent a half hour working on workbooks instead of running around screaming.

Audrey's attention immediately went to baby George and she was so excited to hold her.

Even Mister andy got in on the baby cuddling.

We tried to pick out a campsite that was out of the way, but close to the bathrooms. And we tried to do a good job staying out of the road.

The main source of entertainment for the gown-ups was the Eastern European family that brought their own power tools and cut their own fire wood. We're pretty sure you're not supposed to to this, but they put in hours of effort and had a warm, roaring fire that made us cold and jealous next to our tiny fire made from fire wood that we purchased for $6 a bundle. Yikes.

There was a huge playground across the campground. The dads took us there while the moms stayed back at the campsite. Of course, babies only choose the most inconvenient times to go through growth spurts and mama spent most of the day in a lawn chair nursing her.

It was such a big day that I fell asleep cuddled up next to Mister Andy when we went back to the playground after supper. Luckily I perked up in time for the nightly entertainment, a local girl with a karaoke machine. We only stayed for a few songs. She mostly sang country ballads and the kids were not interested in listening to songs about "men in mascara." (Turns out the lyrics are really "Men and mascara always run" and the song was not a biting social commentary on hipsters that wear eye makeup.)

June did make friends with a little girl and a teensy little dog and refused to come back as sit with us.

I was pumped to carry my lantern that PawPaw gave me, though I did drop it about 50 times and managed to break all the piece apart once. Don't worry, Pawps, somehow it still works.

We had such a good day that we didn't last long when mama and papa threw us in the tent. I read Junie Backyardigans books until we both fell asleep. Stay tuned for an update on Sunday.