Archive for the 'Zach' Category

Little Trip, Big Fun!

Kevin October 15th, 2009

Last weekend my family and I flew up to Portland to visit Roloff Farms. We lucked out with beautiful weather and some amazing scenery up in Portland this time of year. The mix of evergreens with splashes of red, gold, and orange from seasonal trees was quite the show from mother nature.

We spent almost the entire day Saturday (Oct 10th) at Roloff Farms. One thing that surprised me was just how close to the city of Portland the farm is. From watching the show, the surroundings seemed to indicate they were in a rural farm area … maybe an hour outside the city. However, the farm is actually only about 20 miles from downtown Portland. We were driving along the freeway, when the landscape switched pretty abruptly from urban to open fields and a more rural feeling. The Roloffs actually live in Helvetia, a suburb of Portland.

After reaching the farm, we all picked up a Roloff Farms sweatshirt or t-shirt from their gift shop. They were selling all sorts of stuff such as water bottles, key rings, Roloff Farms dirt in a jar, family pictures, coffee mugs, sweatshirts, t-shirts, Little People Big World DVD’s, Matt’s book “Against Tall Odds”, magnets, fleeces … all sorts of souvenirs!

We then bought a combo ticket to go on both rides for $10/person (it was $6 separate if you only wanted to go on one). One ride was a scenic tour of the entire farm, the other was a ride out to Western Town where we got to get off the trailer and tour the town for about 5 minutes. The one thought that kept coming back to me as we toured the property was just how nice everything looked. It was quite an amazing piece of land, and all of Matt’s projects, along with all the landscaping really made it something special. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a tad bit jealous by the time we left ;)

The day we were there, a TLC crew was there filming the show. The topic? Matt organized a contest - a fort building competition between three teams of local kids. They were all building their forts as we toured the farm, and the cameras were rolling. You can see the crew in some of the pics we took.

We saw everyone in the family except Molly, who we were told by Papa and Honey (the grandparents) at Western Town that we had JUST missed her by 5 minutes - she had to cut out to attend a surprise birthday party. We actually met and got to talk with both Amy and Jeremy. Amy was super friendly, so was Jeremy. It actually surprised me a bit just how down to earth they all were. Jeremy had more than a few girls swooning over him.

All in all it was a very fun trip. The farm was everything we had hoped it would be, and more. If you’ve ever considered going, I’d highly recommend it. Our entire family loved it. Thanks Roloffs for letting us visit your farm :)

You can view the hundreds of pictures we took at the farm below. Enjoy!!

Fall 2008 Newsletter

Kevin September 30th, 2008

With the summer over, and pumpkin season upon us, Matt has sent out a Fall newsletter updating fans about what’s been going on around the farm. A few highlights from the newsletter:

• The new season of the show will feature a number of trips to far away places.
• The farm is now open for Pumpkin season. It goes from September 27 - October 28.
• The farm has a few new attractions for visitors.
• Zach & Jeremy are now seniors in high school.
• Molly just took her driver’s permit test.
• Jacob is now in middle school, and playing soccer.
• Amy continues to book speeches and public appearances, and is traveling a lot.

You can read the newsletter in full by following the link below.

Continue Reading »

Summer Newsletter

Kevin June 5th, 2008

Matt sent out a summer newsletter today with updates about the family and farm. For those with sort attention spans, here are a few highlights:

* You can now buy Roloff Farms merchandise directly from ShopRoloff.com.
* The major remodel to the house is now finished.
* Molly was co-valedictorian of her middle school.
* Jacob just finished 5th grade.
* The twins just turned 18.
* The TLC crew is out in full force at the farm this summer, taping what will be the 4th season of the show, set to air this fall.

You can read the full news letter below.

Continue Reading »

Happy Holidays From The Roloffs

Kevin December 21st, 2007

The Roloffs recently sent out a holiday newsletter which you can sign up for here. Matt gave a rundown of all the latest projects on the farm, and what the family has been up to. He also talks about the pending DUI trial, and shares his feelings about the whole ordeal.

Rather than paraphrase the whole thing, we have included an excerpt of the newsletter below so you can read about what the family has been up to. Click the link below for the newsletter.

Continue Reading »

Grasshogs Beat The Breakers

Kevin November 6th, 2007

For the past couple weeks, TLC has been building the rivalry between Zach’s soccer team “The Grasshogs” and the LA Breakers. Last week when they stopped by a Breakers practice on their road trip, Zach seemed pretty scared to face them again at the DAAA games. And then on tonight’s episodes, they continued it by showing Marty harassing Zach, and introducing his new recruit - a giant dwarf who’s been playing soccer for ten years.

So I was actually pretty pumped to see the outcome of the matchup between the Grasshogs and Breakers. I was so glad when the game ended and the Grasshogs won. I think it’s great that a team of underdogs who never even practice together can beat a team that plays together all the time, and completely dominates all the other sports. And did you see the interview with Zach after they’d won? You could tell it was the highlight of his life.

Way to go Zach and the rest of the Grasshogs!!

Season 4 Is Here!

Kevin October 16th, 2007

I just got done watching the season premiere, and it was awesome! My favorite scene of the night? It had to be the part where they are camped at the RV campground and Matt tells Zach to go throw out his trash, so Zach just goes and tosses it in the fire pit in front of Amy. Our whole family, and especially my wife, was laughing when Amy goes in and chews out Matt. Let’s just say we could definitely relate to being on vacation and in similar types of situations.

Zach throwing his trash in the fire pit actually reminded me of a prior episode where the boys come back from their camping trip and Matt tells Zach to get rid of some old milk, so Zach just goes and pours it out into a flower planter on their porch. I sometimes think Zach doesn’t quite think things through when he’s disposing of trash.

It was fun seeing the spot Matt proposed to Amy. He said it was 20 years ago, so who knows … maybe they’ll do something cool on the show for their 20th anniversary.

Finally, was it me, or did anyone else think Zach was a poor sport when the kid playing goalie stopped his goal at the high school party? After he gets stopped, he punches the kid, then kicks him. I like Zach, but I thought that was pretty lame and uncalled for.

Matt, Zach, and Molly in Paducah

Kevin October 15th, 2007

I stumbled across this video today made by a couple fans that shows Matt, Zach, and Molly on their visit to Paducah, KY back in August ‘07. Watch as Matt tells the audience that Molly’s favorite show is “Hannah Banana” (mistaken for Hannah Montana), and also reveals that his all-time favorite episode is the camping trip where Zach knocks himself on his keaster shooting the shotgun.