Picking out our Pumpkins

You may be wondering if we could publish any more photos of pumpkins or picking out pumpkins - and the answer is YES!  In yet another attempt to get into the season, do what "all Americans do" and of course, relive a bit of my childhood, I dragged the family out to another pumpkin patch on Saturday. Rich got his first (and if he has anything to say about it, last) look and experience of a Halloween Carnival. I think the only thing he'll really remember is how much dust he consumed, mainly because he's still popping antihistamines from inhaling so much dust.

Turn your head sideways to look at the below picture (this is the first post I've done on my iMac and I don't know how to say photos that I've rotated). The biggest hit of the day was, of course - the PUMPKINS! Sydney like to turn them all around and tell us that "this one is the best". Daddy gave the kids and pumpkins a ride in the wagon, I think it was the favourite ride of the day, and it didn't cost us any tickets! 

For those of you just dying to know what a Halloween Carnival is all about, let me tell you! It was located in Woodland Hills, not far from where my grandparents used to live. We had to pay admission as well as buy tickets to go on rides. Each ride/activity was a specified number of tickets ranging from 1 ($2) to 5 ($10). Sydney thought this was great, and I think she would have just enjoyed going to all the activities and handing out tickets, never mind actually doing anything. I'm thinking about employing this technique at home - print out tickets and she needs to dish them out for privileges - 1 ticket to watch Dora, 1 ticket to get pushed around in her wagon for 10 minutes - then she can "buy" more tickets: "buy" a ticket if she'd ever go to the toilet on the big-girl potty, etc, etc. OK, so not really, but it might be fun for a day.

Anyway, back to the farm. It was located in a field, with NO ground cover, so every time you took a step you kicked up dust, and so did everyone around you. Then there were all the little kids who thought literally kicking up the dust WAS an activity (sorry, no ticket needed there). Poor Rich and his dust allergy, not happy Jan! Jumping back up to the first picture - the pony ride. Sydney has never been on a pony, in fact, I don't think she's ever even seen one. We were so proud of her. Not only did she not get freaked out, she smiled a lot and pet her pony as she rode. I asked if I could walk along side her, but they wouldn't let me. She let the guy lift her on and she held on to the "handle" really well. It's great to see her trying new things and pushing her fears a bit.

Speaking of trying new things - she also wanted to try the bumper boats (this one's for you, Mom). When we were on the carousel she saw the kids riding the boats and asked if she could try it. I was amazed. I didn't even think she'd get in the boat once we got there, but she not only climbed up the stairs and straight into the boat herself, she actually let the guy push her off into the water. Then she freaked! As she floated further and further away from where I was (they let me stand on the side of the pool for this ride), her screams of "get me out" got a bit louder. All I could think was "How Do I Stop This Thing?" The guy didn't have his water boots on (and he wasn't exactly going to jump in after her without them) so I had to try and get her to steer the boat back to me - which she did. I think she was on the water for about 30 seconds. I was kind of hoping they would give us our 2 tickets back since she didn't exactly do much of the ride, but I suppose that's asking a lot!

In the middle of the field was this tower of hay (no, you didn't need to give a ticket to go on it). Our newly brave little girl climbed all the way to the top by herself. Luckily Daddy followed up, as this 40-something woman - apparently also reliving her youth - bounded up the opposite side yelling "I'm King of the World" and just about knocked Sydney off. I think she (the woman) may have gone trick-or-treating as a corpse if she'd actually made Sydney fall and Rich had had at her.

As for other activities available for our pleasure: a hay ride (Sydney didn't want to go near the tractor, so much for bravery, so we didn't go); a corn maze (5 tickets, we were cheap); mining for "gems", a petting farm with 3 goats and 3 sheep (I was hopeful about this attraction, I thought there would be more); a pumpkin show for the kids; haunted house (it wasn't open); and a few other things. I gotta say, it would probably have been better if the kids were older and could appreciate some of the things (like the corn maze) a bit more. That said, I don't think Rich needs to do it again. He was a good sport, thanks Honey! Although, if we ever get to Wisconsin during October, we WILL be going to Swan Farms - now THEY know how to do a pumpkin festival for all ages.