Alpha & Omega Corn Maze + A Rainy Sunday

Our family’s fall fun continued this weekend with a trip to Alpha & Omega Corn Maze in Hamptonville, North Carolina. It took us just under an hour to get to the maze and the drive was well worth it!

We typically stick closer to home for our corn maze fun in the fall because there is a great one only 20 minutes from us but unfortunately our local maze is closed this year due to dry conditions that negatively impacted their corn. We were on the lookout for a new option and when I chatted with a mom from Chase’s preschool who raved about the Alpha & Omega Corn Maze last week, her positive review stuck in the back of my mind. When I mentioned the idea to Ryan, he was game for a little adventure so we loaded the boys into his car on Saturday morning and arrived at the maze soon after it opened.

Right away, I loved the feel of the place. It had such a small-town, family-friendly vibe and I knew our boys were going to have a blast. Alpha & Omega offered a lot more than a simple corn maze and we spent nearly three hours on the property racing rubber duckies, bumping up and down on a wagon ride, playing in corn pits, watching pig races, bouncing around on jumping pads, challenging each other in yard games and more.

It was kid and family heaven and I was all about it! The weather peaked around 80 degrees on Saturday and it was beautifully sunny so we made the most of the blue skies and hung out at Alpha & Omega until we knew Ryder could use a nap.

We made it home in the early afternoon and assembled sandwiches for lunch before hanging out at the house for a bit so the boys could rest and have some downtime. (Well, that was the idea in theory but the only time our boys rest is when they’re in their beds.) When it became clear Chase and Ryder had plenty of energy remaining, Ryan had the idea to take the boat out since Saturday was likely to be one of the last warm boat-weather days of the year.

Chase was psyched with the idea so we changed into our bathing suits and puttered around Lake Norman for a little more than an hour before heading home for dinner.

I threw together a quick pasta dinner for our family and wanted to share this random Mom Hack with you guys just in case you have some random vegetable-packed baby food on hand that your little one is refusing to eat.

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered some baby food pouches via Instacart and our shopper swapped out the pouches I had in my cart for pouches of butternut squash which were a big no-go for Ryder. (He’s great about eating pouches but they have to have at least one fruit in them to sweeten the deal.) I’ve been incorporating the pureed butternut squash into marinara sauce and our whole family loves it and doesn’t seem to notice the addition of the squash at all.

Sunday

Sunday was a much-needed rainy day in Charlotte. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a full day of rain and we embraced the cozy weather by spending much of the day around the house in our sweats.

We front-loaded most of our activity with a siblings class at MyGym on Sunday morning followed by pancakes and bacon at home and the late-morning service at our church.

Ryder napped for a few hours after church while we hung out at home, did some chores around the house and all that usual weekend jazz.

Once he was up, we eventually made our way to Barnes & Noble to pick up the latest four-pack of Magic Tree House chapter books for Chase before grabbing pizza to bring back home for dinner.

I am so glad you guys recommended these books to our family because we are ALL so into them! Chase loves them and it melts my heart when I see him running around our house with his little notebook and pen pretending to “take notes” like Jack. The books do such a great job of keeping a four-year-old’s attention and I love the fact that these will be books I know he’ll eventually read on his own once he learns to read as well.

And speaking of reading, my fellow book lovers, I have a new book recommendation for you! If you haven’t already read Daisy Jones & The Six, you must!  It’s by the same author who wrote The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (another novel I highly recommend) and I began reading it on Friday night and flew through it. I’ll share more about the book and my thoughts in my upcoming Things I’m Loving Friday post, but the book is unlike any book I’ve read before and I was honestly upset when I finished reading it on Sunday night because I was so wrapped up in the story.

As for the week ahead, it looks like a pretty typical week around here. I hope to see you guys back here again soon and, as always, thanks so much for making PBF a part of your day today!