Much time has passed since we have had an adventure around here. Thank goodness today happened and we got a taste of what gives us that
je ne sais quois! We missed out on the local pumpkin patch
last year and ended up going to the grocery store, which was pretty lame. And just when I was ready to go this year, I saw on facebook that our local patch was already closed. Bummer. Time to discover a new pumpkin patch!
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| Happy to be out of the van. No, really. They are happy! |
Unfortunately, when you google the neighboring town and "pumpkin patch" the map doesn't actually take you to the pumpkin patch. It takes you to the middle of a smaller town, right to Main Street. Right in the middle of road construction. I parked my giant van in the tiny library parking lot and asked the stop sign holder if anywhere around had a map because I was looking for the pumpkin patch. "A map?" Sigh. "Yeah, one of those paper things that show you where you got lost?" Haha, very funny. I was the third person to ask him where the pumpkin patch was today, so it definitely wasn't just me making a mistake!
With the help of a phone charger that could get Mark's "smart" phone charged just enough, we found the right road and the pumpkin patch... and when I drove up and around, following their parking signs, my giant van got stuck in the mud.
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| Those are my tire marks. Good thing I had Mark with me to get us unstuck. |
Mark, being a professional fish biologist who often needs to drive a giant truck through muddy situations, is a pro at getting out of slippery situations. He had us out in a jiffy (and I will never drive with him in the car ever ever again).
It was Lula's Day! This was her first trip to a pumpkin patch! And she was so cute.
Mark was pretty tired and didn't really want to come with us in the first place. The getting lost and getting stuck pretty much used up all his spirit of adventure. He managed to get that cute group picture of the kids, but when he wanted a picture of the two of us and Ian was taking too long...
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| ...I think he captured our true personalities, don't you? |
I was happy to be out with the kids and happy that Lula saw some sheep and happy that the older kids weren't complaining (too much).
I wasn't upset when the boys photo-bombed my picture of Heidi in the backpack we've had for twelve years.
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| The Photobomber |
I wasn't upset when Lula started acting like a two year old.
And I was happy to buy each kid who could carry a pumpkin their very own pumpkin.
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| So full of confidence! |
What I liked about this pumpkin patch was that it is run by a homeschooling family that has seven kids. Just like us! In fact, one of the kids saw us through their window and exclaimed to their mom, "Look Mom! A family just like ours!" Their kids range in age from 17 to 6 and they do a lot of work to keep their business running. The oldest son weighed the pumpkins, the oldest daughter ran the snack shack, the mom worked the register, and the little kids harvested pumpkins and entertained visitors with puppies and bubbles.
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| A nice harvest |
So despite getting lost and getting stuck in the mud and having Mark be all grumpy (did I mention he started a Whole30? The grumpiness really isn't his fault) I had a wonderful time and will go back next year.
