The Pumpkin Patch...

For the past couple of years I've taken the kids to the Pumpkin Patch in Farmington to get pumpkins. The kids really like picking out their own pumpkin and seeing who can find the biggest one!

I took the kids last week to see if they were open yet and discovered they weren't going to open the pumpkin patch until the weekend before October. However, they had opened their corn maze a week early! I talked with the guy for a while about the pumpkins and the maze and debated whether or not I should just come back in a week to get pumpkins.

I started to feel bad because I knew the kids would be disappointed when they found out we wouldn't be getting our pumpkins that day. So, since we were the ONLY people there, I asked the kids if they wanted to do the corn maze with me. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative.

Tragically, I was wearing sandals, Ali was in slip ons and I didn't have anything to carry Jacko in. We set of, undaunted, and made our way through the 2.3 mile maze. We found every one of the six punches and it only took us about 40 minutes...not too bad. Poor Quin discovered he had to go pee about six minutes into it and had to hold it the whole time and Ali kept loosing her shoes in the rough dirt. Jacko wouldn't let me put him down so I had to carry him the entire way, while he tried to pull every corn stalk he could get his hands on with us. Ali had several melt downs, but Clay and Quin were such great brothers and would hold her hand and talk her through it. We only got lost once or twice, but never for very long. Quin only ran ahead and got lost once and we were fortunate enough to find him quickly before he got too turned around!

All in all, it was a really nice trip. Our feet were filthy and our shoes were full of thorns, but we all got a delicious treat and the satisfaction of a job well done. I also had the added satisfaction of knowing I had made my children happy, which made me happy and I got to spend a little extra time with them away from the chaos of our current existence.

Saturday morning I took the kids back to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. We found some SUPER big pumpkins. The biggest one we bought was 50lbs, which is what Quin weighs, and we bought a total of 165lbs of pumpkin. There are some very pretty ones, and some we intend to have a lot of fun carving. They are all sitting on the front porch of our new home waiting patiently to be carved in a couple more weeks.

I just have to say I love spending quality time with the kids. I think we've all felt the stressful effects of this move and it was so fun and so nice to just relax and run around a dirt field looking for the biggest and best pumpkin. I am looking forward to sitting down with the kids and deciding what each pumpkin should be carved into and helping them create their very own Jack-o-latern...one more reason why holidays are so great...you can never have enough excuses to spend time with your family!