Return to Alpha & Omega Corn Maze

We made it back! Last fall one of our favorite fall activities slipped by us due to overly busy weekends but this year we were determined to head to Hamptonville, North Carolina for Alpha & Omega‘s annual corn maze.

The corn maze at this local farm is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to activities at Alpha & Omega. It’s jam-packed with family-friendly fun and our boys truly have a field day at this farm whenever we visit! We spent more than three hours on the expansive property and it was such a wonderful way to spend a sunny, 80-degree Saturday.

We timed our arrival with the opening of the corn maze and immediately headed into the maze to see if we could conquer it before moving onto the other activities. The corn maze at Alpha & Omega is legit — we’re talking seriously challenging, especially if you don’t scan the QR code and look at the map ahead of time — and our boys loved meandering through the enormous cornstalks. I think I heard them yell out “DEAD END!” when we reached a turnaround point and “ALERT! ALERT!” when they’d see a fallen cornstalk a million times. We all did a serious victory dance when we finally emerged from the maze’s exit.

We then spent the rest of our afternoon checking out the other activities on the farm… and there were a LOT of them!

We’re talking rubber duck races, a Farmer 500 bike course (our big kids loved this), a large corn pit, a giant sand pile, pipe slides, farm animal feeding, a tractor pull, jumping pads, paint ball target shooting, pig races, hay rides and more.

Can you see how it would be easy to spend hours at this place!?

While Chase and Ryder were into the bigger kid activities like paint ball target shooting and running in the big pipe hamster wheels, Rhett was all about the little train ride that went around the property.

I’m not lying when I say Rhett and I rode the train at least four times together. He cracked me up by throwing his hands up as if he was in a rollercoaster time and time again.

Our boys also spent a solid 30 minutes playing in the giant sand pile which felt like a mini gift to me and Ryan as we were able to sit on a bench together and just chat while they had a blast. I didn’t realize Alpha & Omega does an annual Country Christmas event on the farm in November as well so we may have to make our way back in a couple of months because we love this place so much.

Once we made it home, we jumped in the lake for a swim and then spent the rest of our Saturday at home, grilling out and making oatmeal apple crisp and homemade cinnamon ice cream for dessert. If you are making apple pie or apple crisp this fall, please make this cinnamon ice cream to serve with it. I promise you will not regret it! Our fav!

Sunday

Ryan’s IronMan training is trucking along at full speed (he was up at 3 a.m. on Saturday to train — ooph!) and while Ryan ran a billion miles and swam in the lake, the boys and I began our day with banana bread protein pancakes. I made an extra large batch so we could have pancakes on hand to reheat through the week and made a mental note to do this more often. Any bit of food prep I accomplish on a Sunday, no matter how small, always does wonders for how I feel going into the week.

Once Ryan was done with his run and swim, we had a relaxed Sunday morning together. It started to rain around 9 a.m. and never really stopped all day long. We took the rain as a sign to hang out at home and enjoy some chill time together. We played some games and dug into two of the subscription kits we’ve received as gifts from family for the boys that we keep on hand for rainy days.

First up was assembling and painting a bird house from a Highlights Kit followed by a nocturnal animal shadow puppet show from Little Passports’ Science Junior Kit.

Both kits were a hit and entertained the boys for quite a while!  The only thing that broke their concentration was a quick hair cut break with Dad which ended up making Ryder awfully happy because he walked away with a lightning bolt in his hair courtesy of Ryan.

Ryan actually had to leave for New York on another work trip around lunchtime which was a bit of a bummer but after we said goodbye and he headed off to the airport, the boys and I had plans of our own and made our way to a local trampoline park for a birthday party.

The trampoline park is always and forever one of our kids’ favorite places and it was absolutely hoppin’ on Sunday afternoon. (Puns around here are always intended.) A combination of rainy weather and lots of birthday parties meant it was mayhem inside Urban Air but that didn’t bother the boys in the least and they had a blast jumping all over the place.

After pizza and cupcakes and more jumping, we said our goodbyes and made our way back home for our usual evening routine. Once I had the boys settled in bed, I read a little more of The Summer I Turned Pretty and I am thoroughly enjoying the book so far. My friend Merri recommended the show by the same name to me so once I’m done with the book I’m hoping to check it out, too.

As for today, it should look similar to most Mondays around here and involve a lot of school drop offs and pick ups, a workout, filming some content for an upcoming Instagram collaboration during the boys’ school time, a martial arts class for Chase and awaiting Ryan’s arrival back home from New York this evening.

I hope you all have a great week and thanks for making my blog a part of your Monday!