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Our First Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Thursday, October 29, 2009


I haven't been to a pumpkin patch since kindergarten, if I remember it correctly. I can picture seeing a hay ride, not going on the actual ride, but seeing it. I remember something about the Wizard of Oz, or maybe that's a completely different field trip altogether (dangit, I'm not doing so well here am I?). And I remember dressing up as a devil, which wasn't actually at the pumpkin patch, and probably not even that same year (memory FAIL). So anyways, I was really excited to take the kids to the pumpkin patch for the first time.


On Sunday afternoon, we loaded up the kids into Jetfire (we have both autobot and decepticon stickers on it, so...), handed little hands sippy cups full of Simply Apple, and hit the road. We had tried to find this same pumpkin patch 3 years ago (really, its been that long? Time flies...) when my sister in law was in town visiting around Eleanore's first Halloween. We never found it that day, instead we drove around for nearly 2 hours, eventually settling for boring Walmart bought pumpkins, or maybe we didn't get any at all (since I'm rockin' the memories). Now that we know the area better (when I say we, I mean Christopher, I had no idea where we were going), it was easy to find. We could see it from the freeway, which triggered a fire alarm type reaction from our 3 year old daughter when we didn't drive directly off the side of the overpass right away, and instead took the exit like good parents who lack magical powers. When we actually got there, parked the deceptiboticon, and put our 6 feet on the ground (Charlie's don't quite reach when hes riding on Mommy's hip)- Eleanore freaked. "We are here! We are here! PUMPKINS EVERYWHERE!", she shouted.


Just as we were in the middle of a battle with a swarm of bees, that I'm pretty sure were attracted to my scent (Laila, I smell like Norway), an older gentlemen came up to us and asked us if we'd like to go on a hay ride. What?! The answer to that is obviously yes. I think that maybe I ran to the tractor (and away from the bees, who we didn't end up escaping), dragging my family behind me. Eleanore didn't know what a hay ride was, so she wasn't excited until we stepped up onto the trailer and she got to roll around a stiff bed of straw, but I was ecstatic. Once we started moving, I started clapping Charlie's hands together (he'll get the hang of this clapping thing soon enough) and nudging Elie with my elbow over and over again. "Here we go Elie! We're moving! We're moving!", I yelled. It was a full ride, there were 4 or 5 other groups of people sharing the hay with us, but the tractor was so loud that nobody would have noticed my childlike excitement. And who cares if they did.


After the hay ride was over (it lasted a lot longer than I thought it would), we went to find our pumpkins. I'm not going to lie, I spent a ridiculous amount of time with the camera (but didn't the pictures turn out so good? Totally worth it), and didn't really participate with the actual pumpkin hunt (it was fun for Elie and Christopher to have that all to themselves though) until the very end when I was tired of swatting away the stingers (I've never been stung in my life, ever) and went ahead and picked out the pumpkins for everyone. We ended up leaving with three (tiny, small, and medium sized), and some really great memories. All for less than $6.

And somehow, nobody got stung by a bee.

16 comments:

April October 29, 2009 at 7:14 AM  

Looks like so much fun! As far as your memory goes, you've got 2 kids... nuf said!

Brandy L October 29, 2009 at 8:12 AM  

These are amazing photos! I think you've captured it all and the coloring is beautiful in these pictures. Looks like your kids had a great time!

Unknown October 29, 2009 at 9:06 AM  

Oh, your family is adorable! Now I want to go on a hay ride.... :D

Unknown October 29, 2009 at 9:53 AM  

Oh wow, I feel so lame.... I'll be carving our Walmart-bought pumpkins tonight. Bummer. I didn't know there was a pumpkin patch nearby!! Oh well! We'll go next year!

Anonymous,  October 29, 2009 at 10:01 AM  

Oh, Tia! I love reading your stories! When you mentioned dressing up as the devil when you were little I remembered when we were in 5th grade... remember I dressed up as the wicked witch of the west... with the green face paint and all! But the funniest part was there was this girl in our class, I dont remember her name... but she came as Christopher Columbus... she put on some of my green paint... Anywho, I wish I had more pictures of us together when we were young Tia. I wish we had been able to spend more time together and grow up together. But you are a big part of who I am now. You were my first best friend! I have some pictures of you somewhere, Im gonna scan them someday and send them to you! Anywho, love your blog, love your photos!

Sarah October 29, 2009 at 10:57 AM  

It was too perfect of a day for ANYONE to get stung by a bee. And you are looking lovely, my friend.

mari October 29, 2009 at 11:12 AM  

THIS is why I wanted to go pumpkin patching this year (and the babe is only barely 10 months old) traditions are such a grand tradition aren't they?
Beautifully done!

Giggly October 29, 2009 at 11:59 AM  

Fantastic photos! Pumpkin patches make the best memories. XOXOX

Tia Colleen October 29, 2009 at 1:07 PM  

The Momma- Can I do that? Can I use my kids as an excuse for an absent memory? I'm totally going to, haha.

Brandy- Thank you! I'm not going to keep it from you though, it took me 3 days to edit all of the pictures I took. It'll be worth it 10 years from now though, won't it?

Jenny- Are you going to go to a pumpkin patch near you? The hay ride was so exciting.

Marisa- I didn't know about it last year, so... we're kind of in the same boat on that one. Next year you'll have to take the girls!!

Sarah- Awwww, what a sweet comment. I'm so flattered that you come and read my blog. I wish we would have stayed in touch over the years. I would LOVE it if you would scan some pictures, I don't have a single one!!

Joyfully- *claps* Thank you! I was actually feeling very "I hate my hair", after I saw all of the pictures, so that compliment cheered me right up :) And you're right, the bees knew better than to ruin our first trip to the pumpkin patch.

Mari- there is still time!! Halloween isn't until Saturday. I bet you go either Friday or Saturday, and there would still be pumpkins left!! Charlie is 10 months old too, and he loved it.

Giggly- Thank you so much, mah dear. Your pumpkin patch photos were so cute too! I love this time of year, getting to see everyones matching with differences type photos. Its cute to see what kind of traditions and things we all like to share.

Brandi October 29, 2009 at 1:20 PM  

love the photo collages! we have a pumpkin patch around here that we will go to starting probably next year. can't wait!

Anonymous,  October 29, 2009 at 2:53 PM  

I always love your photos! It looks like everyone had a great time!

soul_searching_mama October 29, 2009 at 3:05 PM  

I love the photos! :) It looks like you guys had a great time. And I also lack magical powers to drive off the freeway like that, so don't feel bad. ;) My son often gets frustrated when I don't seem to have the magical ability to do something that is impossible. And seriously? You've never been stung by a bee?? Lucky.

Amanda October 29, 2009 at 4:33 PM  

great photos & what a perfectly fun day!!! you look fantastic btw!

MariaSoleil October 29, 2009 at 7:30 PM  

Super cute. Can I just say how tickled (and jealous) I am that your hubby gets to tag along and play with you guys. What a fun family you are!

Megan October 29, 2009 at 9:00 PM  

Aw, fun! One of mine & Kyle's first dates was to a pumpkin patch. :)

Word verification word: hoctog. That's a fun one to say, like I'm trying to say "hotdog" but I'm some kind of super-dyslexic.

Kunklebaby November 2, 2009 at 11:53 AM  

Ooohh, you found one! Sounds like you all had a fabulous time!! Great pics!

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