So this past weekend, we took the journey to Marble Falls,
TX and went to one of the best pumpkin patches. The name of the place is Sweet
Berry Farm, and it’s actually a working farm. During the spring, you can head
out there and pick your own fresh strawberries, and during the fall, the place
transforms into an amazing pumpkin patch. So here is my review of Sweet Berry
Farm.
So back in California, we used to go to a place called Pa’s
Pumpkin Patch in Long Beach. It was a nice little place. There were a couple
little rides, and you can pick your pumpkin and be on your way. Kids had a nice
time, and the prices were ok. Now that I’ve been to a place in the actual
country, I’m going to complain about the location of the old place in LB. It
was an empty street corner.
Well, maybe I’m not “complaining” but I do need to point out
the difference between the map about, and the map below of Sweet Berry Farm’s
location.
Big difference. One is right in the middle of the city, one
is in the middle of the country.
Ok, so let me get the negative out of the way. We decided to
go on a Sunday since I had to work that Saturday. It was a really big sacrifice
for the husband since it meant he would miss out on the Cowboy game. Before
anyone rushes to judgment, the Cowboys were playing the Eagles and it was to
determine who would be in first place of the division (Cowboys won. Yay Mike!).
Well it turns out Sunday’s are a terrible time to go because the place was
PACKED. Traffic started when we turned onto the highway. Not a good sign for
someone like me. I am my father’s daughter and what that translates to be is
that I have no patience and I hate crowds. Some crowds are tolerable, but
having to stand in line with other families trying to contain their impatient
children, while my boys are being equally impatient is not my idea of a good
time. There really isn’t any suggestions I could give to make this process
better considering the remote location and the fact that I don’t want this
place to get overly commercialized.So we battled the traffic, and stood in the awful lines. More then once I wanted to bail and try again later, but I sucked it up.
So first off, just like everything in life, nothing is free
at this place except the parking and the entrance. If you want to go through
the corn mazes, face painting, paint a pumpkin, hay ride, or the train, you
have to pay. The good thing about this is the prices are pretty low. We’re
talking $2-$4 per event/attraction. First attraction was the Sweet Berry Train.
It’s very low frills. A tractor pulls a couple “cars” with children around a
little track. Super cute, and the boys had tons of fun.
The next stop was paint a pumpkin. For $5 the children pick
a pumpkin, and paint it any way they choose. The boys LOVED this. My oldest is
really big on art right now so it thrilled him to have a new art project. There
were plenty of tables for the kids, and each table had its own brushes and
paint so fighting over colors was pretty much non-existent. A really good part
about this activity was that they had stands set up for you to put your pumpkin
in the sun and let it dry so you don’t have to lug around a pumpkin with wet
paint all over it to the other activities.
Finally our last stop was face painting! I saved this for
last because the year before I made the mistake of getting it done first, then
by the end of the day, the paint is melting off their faces, and getting all
over their clothes and my car. No Bueno. So once again they chose the same designs
that they choose every year! A ghost for the youngest, and a batman mask for
the oldest. I kept trying to get them to change it up, and do something
different, but was shot down. I guess when you like something you stick to it.
So over all we had a good time. The weather was perfect, the
boys behaved beautifully and we spent some quality family time together. The
only thing we failed to do was buy a pumpkin to carve. Since we had to park on
the other side of the highway, the idea of lugging a huge pumpkin didn’t seem
appealing. We can get a nice pumpkin from Walmart or HEB. So we will definitely
return next year, but not on a Sunday, and we'll park nice and close so we can buy a pumpkin from them.
Till next year!
