Pumpkin Patching It

I had every intention of taking the kids to a really cool pumpkin patch this year. While I would mentally try and schedule this fun trip to the pumpkin patch- something would always come up and distract me! Go figure! Most of the really cool patches are about twenty minutes away and for some reason, we just couldn't get there. Finally, in a last ditch 'your kids are going to resent you if you don't take them' effort- we planned a trip to the local patch. It was going to be a tight squeeze as we had to pick Michael up at soccer practice at 6pm and then get to the patch before it got too dark.

We met Ali, Mark, Jocelyn, and their kids at a local patch Matthew, Emily and I had run across days before. Basically, it is in the middle of a parking lot in strip mall but it still looked pretty darn cool! They had about seven bounce houses, pumpkins everywhere, hot cider, hay bales, and it definitely succeeded in transporting you to a pasture somewhere rather feeling like you were in the actual location of being next to a Tai Kwon Do studio. Moving on. The kids had a blast jumping around and they could have cared less where we were because they were just having too much fun! We paid for them to have unlimited access to the bounce houses for thirty minutes and told them to have at it! Emily was a good girl, too and I just tried to keep her warm and bundled on my shoulder.

Before we left, I had the foresight to think about a good family photo opp at the patch so I dressed everyone up in their orange/black/white clothes so we would all look Halloweenie. However, my effort totally failed because everyone was wearing their jackets by the time we took pictures which made my crazy 'running around the house trying to get everyone in cute outfits' effort completely fruitless. But at least I know (and now you do too) that beneath those jackets is a good Halloweenie look! The kids all picked out pumpkins and I had to play 'bad cop' and tell them NO- they couldn't get the pumpkin that was bigger than the back of the car. 'But please?' they kept saying and I had to keep insisting no. Not only could we not even pick up the pumpkins that they picked out (think the size of a car tire) but they would have been outrageously expensive. We really had fun at the pumpkin patch and I realized that no matter where we took them to get their pumpkins- they would have been thrilled. Now we need to carve them as we only have a few days until the big spooky day!