Bring On The Pumpkin Patches

That very first weekend of fall we rolled out of bed, stuffed ourselves with donuts and coffee, then headed to one of my favorite pumpkin farms right on the coast. Thanks to that nice ocean breeze it's always at least ten degrees cooler than where we live which was pretty much all the enticing we needed since our fall weather kicked off around 100 degrees. (I know a lot of you can commiserate!) When we got there, even though it was only supposed to be mid-70s, it felt hot. Good thing Joe vetoed my decision to dress the boys in warm clothes. Last year we dressed in shorts, and it wound up being cold. This tricky California weather always fools me. Apparently I can never get it right.

As soon as we got there Ez and Declan beelined for the goats in the petting zoo. There was a long line of them sticking their heads through the fence and Declan was immediately fascinated. Ez was a little more cautious but once he finally stuck his hand out he thought it was hilarious to feel them licking his fingers. Lately Ez has been finding everything hilarious and he constantly gets fits of giggles. It's contagious and we all end up laughing, even though we usually have no idea what started it in the first place. I love that boy so much. As for me, I'm not a huge fan of goats after a traumatizing petting zoo experience as a kid when one tried to eat my coat. I tried to get over my fears and tentatively stuck my hand out to pet a cute little baby goat who immediately nibbled my fingers. Still not a fan of goats.

After the soulless goats it was onto the good part. Pumpkins! There were piles of them everywhere. All different colors and varieties. I had my heart set on one of each. So we grabbed a wheelbarrow, the kids piled inside, and we went pumpkin hunting. Declan thought the wheelbarrow ride was basically the best part of the whole day. He was bumping along in front, cracking up. Ez took his pumpkin picking very seriously, and insisted on picking them up and carrying them himself. In the end I stuck with three pumpkins - a striped, a white, and a green/gray one. Great restraint on my part.

Our trip to Lemos Farm just wouldn't be complete without a pony ride. Ez was so independent and proud of himself to ride one last year that we had to do it again. More on that soon! After pumpkins we took our overtired kids out to lunch nearby. The server was kind enough to bring over a stack of children's books to help calm our clearly unhappy kids. Declan promptly threw them on the floor. That'll teach her to be nice to strange little kids. After lunch both kids passed out on the car ride home and I'd say that our first pumpkin patch trip was a pretty successful one.

For our second trip to the pumpkin farm Gangy and Grampa joined us, which made it extra special. We just happened to go on the first day the farm was open this season, which means we had our pick of all the best pumpkins. Sunny but not warm weather, a day spent with family, and plentiful pumpkins, what more could a girl ask for?

On our first pumpkin patch trip the allure of pumpkins was lost on Declan. This time around he got in on the action and was lifting, rolling, and throwing pumpkins like a little baby Hulk. Ez took his pumpkin picking game to the next level and tried picking up the absolute biggest pumpkins he could find. When that didn't work he decided they made pretty good tables and chairs.

Even though we'd just traipsed three miles through a corn maze (more on that to come!) both boys seemed to have limitless energy when it came to running up and down each row of pumpkins. Give me some of that, please! Eventually all the adults were hungry, but since we had to walk past 3,000 thousand pumpkins to get to the exit, and each one of them was calling out to be picked up, examined, and rolled around, it took us awhile to get outta there.

I'm not gonna lie, I may have been a teensy part of the problem, since I couldn't help myself and picked out a few more Cinderella pumpkins. After we all felt content with our pumpkin picks Declan got one more ride in the wheelbarrow and then it was off to lunch with the grandparents. Both kids promptly fell asleep right before we got there and were in fabulous moods inside the restaurant. Declan amused himself with a coffee creamer packet that he figured out how to pop open in exactly 2.5 seconds. All over my hair and shirt. In other words it was a Disney movie on the phone kinda meal. After that it was pure silent bliss as we all devoured our well-earned meals. 

And there you have it, three days into October and we've already been to two pumpkin patches. I think Joe thinks we're all done. We'll just let him keep on thinking that ;)