Pumpkin Patch!

Yesterday, all the stars aligned and we were able to make a family trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  It wouldn't seem like October without at least one trip!  ;-)  We have been going to this Pumpkin Patch for FOUR Octobers now, so it's kind of a tradition.  I remember the first year we went, Ginger was just a teeny tiny baby.  Now she's older than Paprika was on her first trip!

This place is about an hour's drive from us...there aren't many pumpkin patches down at the beach!  ;-)  But it is worth the drive.  We are having unseasonably warm weather right now, so it was like 100 degrees yesterday at the pumpkin patch!  We pretended it was a chilly Autumn day!  The farm had lots of shade and water misters, and since it was a Wednesday, nobody was there...we had the whole place to ourselves:



The girls loved picking out pumpkins.  Ginger said that all these pumpkins were "too big for our family."  So, we ended up going home with 5 small pumpkins (one for each of us) - and then we also got three little white pumpkins for our angel babies.  :-) 

I got that idea from Devon, because she always gets two white pumpkins for Blake and Ethan.  I had never seen white ones before, and then yesterday I did!  So, maybe now that will be a new tradition for our family, too.  Thanks, Devon!




We hit up the "hay ride" - which was really a tractor ride, without any hay!  Haha! Violet was being a daredevil, and wanted to stand up on the yellow planks while we were bumping all around on the ride.  We got a pretty great tour of the farm, and got to see all sorts of crops, butterflies, birds, flowers, and even some Christmas trees!  :-)




The rest of the time, Violet mostly rode in the Ergo, but she wanted to explore on her own so badly!  She is ready to get right there in the middle of everything:

:


We got lost in the Corn Maze - seriously lost.   Here we are at the beginning, full of optimism:




But we honestly could NOT find the way out.  We were in there a LONG time before we ended up just re-tracing our steps and coming out the way we came in.  I remembered back to the olden days, when I was in college and was invited to be in Mensa...and well, how far I have fallen since then - haha!  Oh, the things motherhood does to one's mental acuity. A noble trade-off.   ;-) 

Paprika thought getting lost was the funniest thing - we came upon a sign that said: You Look Cornfused (you know, like confused?)  I think we'll be talking about being CORN-fused for the forseeable future. Ha!


  


A big highlight was petting the farm animals.  There were friendly goats, sheep (who didn't want anything to do with the girls), a bunny rabit, and some chickens:



Ginger LOVED this bunny!




The girls were so excited to go on the train!  We had to do it twice.  The first time, they sat in the engine...the second time, they sat in the caboose!  Then, the guy working the ride saw how much they both loved it, so he let them ride the third time for free.  :-)





They were so excited about such a simple, little thing...they said it was just like being at Disneyland:



The pony ride is always my favorite part.  The big girls rode the ponies twice - and the second time they went, the girl working the ride said Paprika was too tall and that she couldn't ride (although she is still twenty five pounds under the weight limit)! The injustice!

So, we measured her and she is JUST a hair under the height limit. So, this is her last year she gets to ride. Next year, it will be Violet up on the horses and Paprika cheering her little sisters on from the sidelines. Sunrise, sunset.


 
This picture in the wooden train is kind of a tradition - last year, of course, it was just Paprika and Ginger.  This year, Violet had to get in there!  :-)




And here is Paprika just by herself.  We have pictures of her in this thing all through the years, and it is pretty awesome to see how she's growing and maturing.  One day I'll have to put together a little collage for her of all her wooden train pics!



Tricycle race with Mr. M driving Ginger.  Paprika had her own trike, but Ginger is still just a little too little:



Fun climbing the hay pyramid:




And last, but not least, the girls being pulled in the wagon.  We pulled them all over the farm (we always do) - and I think that is their favorite part of all!  By next year, Paprika will probably be too big to be pulled in the wagon. This growing up thing is harder on me than it is on the kids, I think! ;-)

Anyhoo- I am grateful for a great day at the Pumpkin Patch. Things will never be this way again, so I have to keep taking snapshots in my mind. :-)


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