Hafta Askya Bout Nebraska

It wasn't until Jacob's family drove out to Utah this summer that it finally occurred to me driving to see him was in our realm of possibilities. Having a new reliable van helped push us over the edge to commit to spending a weekend up to our ears in corn.

UEA was the perfect weekend seeing as Vala's Great Pumpkin Patch would be open then and from what I understood, it wouldn't be worth a visit to Nebraska without a visit to the pumpkin patch. We began our trek toward the land of Corn Huskers with a stop to see a dinosaur on the way. 

The 13-hour drive seemed a bit daunting with a little baby who we don't know well enough to anticipate his road tripping tendencies. We should have known he is the same in a car or not, an angel either way! Hardly made a peep during our first 6-hour leg.

We stopped at a hotel that had the word "Budget" in its name. Against all odds, we didn't get murdered or bed bugs, and against even worse odds, the kids all completely behaved themselves, settled into their beds without any fuss, and slept in the next morning. Success!

I don't know why squishing my family into a budget hotel room brought these feelings out in me, but as everyone was falling asleep, I looked around at all my boys and just felt so grateful they're my adventure team. That's what I've decided. When you have this many boys, your life requires adventure and they're a fun bunch to adventure with. 

We stopped at a buffet style Pizza Hut on our second leg which was happiness for all. 

My kids are road tripping champs. We only did 1 movie the whole way out and then they were enthralled with listening to Harry Potter the rest of the time. They all did awesome! And in no time at all, we made it!

We had just missed seeing Natalie cheer at a volleyball game, but we got to see her in full uniform when she got home. 

Then we went to a fall carnival at the kids' school. 

Friday was our big Vala's day. I've heard about Vala's for years and years but never had I had the great pleasure of experiencing it for myself. 

One of the first things we found were the trikes which resulted in an instant obsession by my whole group. 

With the kids occupied, Natalie, Emma and I had some time to snap a few selfies. 

We could have been happy just at the trike station for basically the entire day, but Laurie encouraged us to move on as there was a lot more to see. What else could there be?!? We wondered. The trikes alone were already way cuter and more fun than we expected the whole patch to be. But onward we went. 

We found some more bikes that everyone could ride.

And then the dirt path we were traveling became increasingly golden and we knew we were on the verge of approaching the corn land jackpot. 

This was everything we wanted Vala's to be. I have seen years of pictures of Luke's body covered in corn with only his cheeks poking out of the golden sea. 

And then it happened to us. Bliss. 

You don't know happiness until you've shoved kids out of the way in a corn pit so you can make a corn angel and that's when all your fall dreams have come true. 

Laurie supervised my baby so I could indulge in corn in a way I had never before indulged. 

Lincoln jumped in on the fun.

Luke appears to have indulged in the way I usually indulge in the crop. 

This may sound corny, but from then on out, Vala's had us grinning from ear to ear. 

Because right after that we found this giant air pillow thing and...well...see for yourself. 

And if that wasn't enough, there were the pig races with jokes so funny we were snorting with laughter.

Then it was back to the trikes because as I said before, my kids were instantly obsessed. 

And don't go thinking Jonah wasn't having a great time with the rest of us. The magic of the crops reaches even the smallest of visitors. 

 Logan and Eli were our trusty tour guides.

Everywhere you turned there was some new kind of farm vehicle which kept the boys excitedly jumping from tractor to tractor. 

Jacob and Laurie let us slip away for a mini date on "The Big Slide Ride."

Vala's is so magical it basically watches your kids for you, so looks like Jacob and Laurie even caught a mini date while they were supervising. 

Tractor ride to go pick apples? Mandatory!

And then back to the trike station so the kids could ride between bites of dinner. 

Vala's was SO FUN! The best way I can explain it is they have a pumpkin cannon. Yes. A cannon that shoots pumpkins. Now, when we saw that pumpkin launching was a Vala's event, we expected a little slingshot with an unimpressive plunk of a pumpkin. But what we got was a full blown cannon that slung the pumpkin all the way over a distant grove of trees until it was completely out of sight. It was incredible. Now imagine that pumpkin is my expectations. I would have been happy with the plunk of the pumpkin. But Vala's took my pumpkin patch dreams and slung them beyond my comprehension. It was just such a fun place!

My other description if it is it's like Fall Disneyland. Anything you could ever imagine about fall is perfectly wrapped up in this gigantic pumpkin park. Schedule your next family vacation to Nebraska.

Along with an abundance of corn, Nebraska also has an abundance of girls! Holla atcha impromptu Dairy Queen girls' night!

And when we're in town, there's also an abundance of boys in Nebraska. This is the boys club lunch table on Saturday when we stopped on our way to an indoor playground. 

As we hit the state line on the way out, we saw the Nebraska sign which right underneath proudly read, "The Good Life." Jeff and I found that amusing and frequently referenced it throughout the trip. My favorite was when we were laying in the indoor playground's ball pit and we agreed that this is indeed "The Good Life." 

Jacob was our host and Lincoln was...a parasite? :) 

We had such a fun time visiting and now we feel like road tripping experts and will have to make a habit of trekking eastward to see more of the Nebraska folk. 

Especially because we have some friends who live a mere 6 minutes away from Jacob and Laurie and we were able to drop in and say a quick hello to them!

Then it was back on the road for a full 13-hour-in-one-day drive home. 

Everyone did great again and we actually preferred tackling the drive in one day. It was a super fun UEA and one definitely worth repeating!