Pumpkin Patching

Halloween in the Central Valley is a whole different affair from when we lived in Southern California or the Bay Area. There are so. many. farms. There's a whole place nearby called apple hill that is FILLED with apple orchards and pumpkin patches. No matter which direction we drive, there are pumpkin patches and corn mazes and we are in heaven. Keeping that in mind, we've been to about two pumpkin patches each weekend this entire month. It may seem a tad bit excessive, but in just one short week it'll all be gone so we're soaking it up while we can. Ez LOVES the corn mazes (see here) and picking out the perfect pumpkin. Decky rules the hay pyramids and the rickety wagons. 

In addition to our weekend pumpkin patching, we also took a fun little mid-week field trip with Ez's preschool. My mom and Decky were able to come along too, which made it extra special. Highlights included a hay ride, seeing a hawk (aka - Maui) on said hay ride, the hay maze (which the kids weren't supposed to climb on, so of course Decky perched right on top of a bale and just sat there looking completely innocent), and the hay pyramid. The kids ran wild and were dirty, sweaty, completely giddy messes when it was all over. If only we could do a field trip every week.

Slowly but surely our house is filling up with pumpkins of every color and I get so happy when I see them all lining our walkways and scattered through our house. Joe says we've got plenty, but I think just a few more wouldn't hurt 😏 Ez can't wait to turn them into Jack O'lanterns and I've got my fingers crossed this is the year de-gutting and carving occupies their attention for more than two seconds. Hey, a mom can dream.

This is shaping up to be my favorite Halloween season yet. For the first time ever Ez is really into his costume, he's gotten down the concept of saying "trick or treat" in exchange for candy, he actually requests to go do Halloween stuff each day, and his little face LIGHTS up at the sight of a pumpkin patch. He brings me Halloween books to read every day and then proceeds to recite the whole book from memory. Decky is pretty much a kid in the candy store when it comes to the pumpkin patch. Anytime there's a pumpkin in sight, you can bet Declan will be right there to carry it off to his secret stash. Nevermind that several of our pumpkins now have tiny teeth marks on them...

I hope your October is magical, friends!