Gardner Village 2014

My little sister and I have loved taking our kids to Gardner Village every year for the past 4 or 5 years. We always try to get there and we usually end up going during Fall Break or UEA, whatever it is where you are at.

This year was no exception and we decided to go on the Friday of the break. So I get the kids all ready and as we're making our way to Gardner Village, my little sister calls. She lets us know that it is EXTREMELY packed and that they were parked in a dirt parking lot not really even IN Gardner Village. 

Because I'd already got the kids in the car and we had planned our day to be at Gardner Village, I decided it couldn't possibly be worse than any other time we had gone. I was dead WRONG. The place was busier than I had ever seen it and it was a hike from the place we parked to Gardner Village, but we decided to make the most of it.

We met up with my sister and her family and discussed how busy it was. It was hard to get around and so she had already decided and told her kids they weren't doing the Witch Hunt and weren't going to get the cookies, but she did want to get some pictures.

Then we tried to walk around just a little bit to see what we COULD see.

Ailey was a great big sister and helper just like on her field trip.

All 6 Kids!

We then said goodbye to my sister and the cousins. They decided they'd go meet up with my mom and older sister at my mom's work. I wasn't so keen on driving out to where my mom works, so I declined the invite.

I decided that my kids had been pretty good and they were such great troopers with how far we had to walk, so I told them we'd still buy them a cookies. We weren't going to get discounted ones, but it was okay. 

Thankfully they had two lines for cookies and so it moved pretty quickly. We sat down and enjoyed our treats and then saw just a few more witches before heading out.

...When Nate actually ASKS me to take his picture, I make sure I do so...

We then made the walk back to the car and I knew the kids were pretty beat. It had been a hot day and we had done a ton of walking. I didn't realize just how worn out they were though, until I saw this out of my rear view mirror. (And don't worry, I had Shaylyn snap the picture while I kept my eyes on the road)