Autumn Harvest

The first week in October we, along with 10,000 of our closest friends, decided to make the most of a gorgeous Saturday afternoon and head to the Pumpkin Patch. We had heard about a farm where you went into the actual patch to pick out your pumpkin and then pick it straight for the vine - we were in.

Upon arrival we made the kids pose for the obligatory pumpkin patch photo at the staged photo area - I think the cooperated quite well.

It was a rush of activity trying to figure out where to go first. They had this "duck race" contraption where you hand-pumped water out of a trough and then the water spilled into a pipe and floated the duck down the open pipe to the other end, into the waiting hand of a child who got his turn next. It was incredibly crowded and everyone had huge smiles on their faces, including our two, so it must have been fun. We checked out the time for the next hog race, as I was keen to see that. Next stop was the farm animals where we gawked at baby goats, pigs, a cow or two, some bunnies and a horse.

I think my favorite attraction were the singing chickens. They had these mechanical chooks that popped out of boxes and sang farm songs - kinda cute. We then spotted the John Deere tractor and waited our turn to climb aboard and drive it. John would have stayed here all day if we could have let him. Sydney wasn't as keen on the tractor.

She actually preferred the cut-out animals you stick your head in for pictures. There was a school bus, which I made them all try out (none of the picture were good) and then this cow and pig. It took me a very long time to figure out that her head was in a pig, NOT the cow's udder (though I personally think it would have made for better pictures and stories if it WAS the udder).

Then it was off to the pumpkin patch. We were all kinda excited that we would get a hay ride out to the patch, especially the kids. The line was sooooooooo long. So John and I went over to the snow-cone booth and waited to buy our cones of ice; we then got to go into the flavor barn and pump our own flavors onto the shaved ice - too cool. Sydney and Rich in the mean time waited in the hay ride line. Perfect timing - as we rounded the corner with our blueberry-passion fruit-strawberry snow cones, R&S were third in line. Five minutes later we were on the hay. And then we waited, and waited, and waited.

Our excitement was soon depleted as we were reminded just how dusty hay rides through dry fields are; luckily Rich had taken a Polaramine before we arrived. We suddenly were stopped at the back of the field, yards away from the pumpkins, alongside the corn and down the way from the Christmas trees - essentially, not near anything. The farmer who had been driving the tractor then came and trapped us in the trailer - blocking the exit. He then proceeded to tell us "city folks" things that "you're probably not that interested in" (his quote, not mine) such as when the Christmas Trees will be ready to cut, the 5 types of pumpkins, how the farms works, etc. He would not let us out.

After his 10 minute patronizing lecture, he drove us over to the patch.

Oh, did I mention that he also warned us about looking out for fire ant hills (which will always find me if they are around) as well as black widow spiders that like to build their homes under the pumpkins. Why oh why did we not just go to HEB and buy us some pumpkins? We trudged to the very back of the patch as the front was pretty well picked over. We'd also heard that the mini pumpkins were at the back and the kids were keen to get them.

John had a great time pointing to every pumpkin and declaring MY PUMPKIN. He'd run to one, then spot another one and take off for it. Essentially the whole place was HIS! Sydney was very cautious after hearing about the potential ants and spiders, so she was kicking everything with her feet before inspecting things more closely. She was after the perfect round pumpkin.

Whilst we were out exploring we made a discovery - the patch we thought was soooooo far away that you HAD to endure a dusty hay ride to get to, was actually a 3-4 minute stroll (even with kids) away from the snow cone flavor barn! So we made a parent decision - get one pumpkin each that we could easily carry (needless to say, the beauty that Sydney discovered above did not qualify) and walk back! The next day Mommy went to the HEB pumpkin patch and picked out the big ones for carving.

In the end, the kids had a blast - and isn't that what counts? Rich and I had a good laugh that night recapping Farmer Jack's (not his real name) lecture and noted that we really do do these things for the kids, not for us. So a shout-out to all the parents (mine included) who put up with a lot to make experiences and memories for the little ones.