Tolmachoff Farms

Here in Arizona (possible in other parts of America too), going to a pumpkin patch is a big thing to do with small children just in time for Halloween. We go to pick out our very own pumpkin to take home and carve into a jack-o-lantern. If it is a great pumpkin patch, they will have many other fun things to do for the kids. This year we went with some friends to a near by family farm and had a blast....

5 of the 6 kids we took posing behind some vegetables.

RJ and Jacqy hanging out in a tractor tire.

There was a large wooden bin that was filled with dried corn. the kids thought it would be fun to bury Sara in the corn.

A water duck race. The kids had to pump the old style water pump to get the water to race the ducks.

They were able to grind their own corn to feed to the chicken and roosters.

There were tricycles to ride

And go-cart peddle cars to ride too.

A fun small corn maze to wonder through...we almost lost Sara.

Look how tall the corn was.

Some hay to sit on and pose with a large jack-o-lantern

A small petting zoo...Sara wasn't too sure about the pig. It was almost as big as she was.

The big pumpkin patch...Sara was determined to pick up that pumpkin, and she did it all my herself.

The smaller pumpkin patch and a smaller pumpkin.

RJ and his pumpkin

RJ is very proud of his big pumpkin. For those of you back in Japan...we will carve a face into the front of the pumpkin, take out all the seeds, wash them and roast them and eat them. Then the jack-o-lantern will go by our front door step a few days before Halloween with a candle inside as decoration for the neighborhood kids that go trick-or-treating.

Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

Phoenix Children's Museum

Last month, while we were staying with some friends, we all went to the new Phoenix Children's museum. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, I encourage you to go. The kids had a blast....

Sara liked weighing the peas...
RJ LOVED playing cashier...
He would have stayed all day at this part if I had let him.
I had to explain that we have to share and take turns. I am sure that when we go again, he will head right for this spot.

But the kitchen and pizza maker wasn't far behind on his favorite list.
Sara liked washing the dishes...
RJ and Kendra kept taking orders from the poor souls that sat down at the restaurant table in the kitchen area.
RJ's turn at the peas

There was a small play house area for kids 3 and younger. It was nice for Sara to not have to "fight" with the older kids to get to play.

She made friends real quick too.
"MOM! get this ball out of my way!"
Slides are always fun!

Then we found the bike area (yes this is still indoors). RJ rode Sara around...
And then he rode Kendra around...
Kendra tried it on her own...
Sara made a go of it....
She even tried to pull daddy...

Outside they had some cool stuff too...

This "Dragon" needed to be decorated with ribbons...
It was looking pretty cool by the time we finished.

And of course there is always a craft room at these types of museums...
paper mache lady bug
RJ made a cat's face...
Daddy helped Sara with hers...
The Hammes family having fun in the craft room

Some cool origami cranes...made me miss Japan even more...
These were CDs that were colored and hanged from the ceiling.
The outside

These bikes were hard to maneuver..we have to get the small wheels moving while you are walking on them...

Daddy did pretty good on it
The tunnel area for the little ones (can you see Sara's legs in the hole?)

That is Sara on the right.

It was a great day at the museum. Thanks Brenda and Kendra for taking us!

Games at Church

Last month we went to our church to play some games with our friends there. The kids found Ms. Colleen to play games with them.


Sara really wanted to knck over my dominoes
RJ and Amelia playing RJ's favorite game, Sorry!