Annual Trip to the Pumpkin Patch 2015

Can I be perfectly honest and admit that this is the year I almost gave up on all our holiday traditions before they even began?

There's just SO MUCH always going on.  There's never enough money.  Half the time when we do these family tradition outings everybody (A.J.) is unhappy all day.  It might be more trouble than it's worth.  This year we have soccer games every Saturday morning through early November and A.J. has Nutcracker practices every Sunday (and several Saturday) afternoons through mid-December. Wouldn't it be nice to just sit in front of the TV all weekend and watch College football?  When are we going to do the grocery shopping and the laundry?

I thought it would be easier with me staying home again this year, but it's just not.

I found myself at Costco early in October staring at a few enormous pallets of these humongous, practically perfect, ridiculously round and flawless looking pumpkins.  I was supposed to be making a quick stop after Lucy's "Mommy and Me" Dance class to check for raincoats for the kids.  Having been in San Diego and for the last 4 years, nobody in our family really had anything resembling a decent rain coat.  Peter's old school uniform had included a nice water resistant wind breaker, but I'd given it away with the rest of his old things.  This year our school has a nice fuzzy warm fleece for the kids to wear, but the principal had said that on rainy days it would be best if the kids just wore their own preferred rain coats of choice to stay dry.  It had been raining all that morning and my kids at school had nothing. 

Of course, at 30 minutes until noon on that Thursday morning the clouds were rapidly clearing, the puddles were evaporating and as the sun finally broke through the temperature shot up a good 20 degrees.  What was I there to buy again anyway?

Gosh those pumpkins looked nice.  I should just grab a cart, toss in three and save myself the headache this Halloween.

"PUN-KINS!!!"  said Lucy, gleefully through the pacy in her mouth.

I looked at my smallest child.

She sure didn't seem to care if we went to a pumpkin patch this year.  She would be just as happy getting these.  Oh.  But she's only 2.  She won't remember this anyway.  Then again, if we abandon the tradition this year, we'll likely abaondon it forever.  And then she'll never even remember going to the pumpkin patch as a family at all.

Never mind the fact that she's been two years in a row already....

Crap.

I couldn't give up on this stuff yet.  Family traditions matter.  My children's memories matter.  Maybe when they all grow up they won't care about having gone to a pumpkin patch every October.  But maybe they would.  Those memories matter to me!

I remember going to one once as a kid.  It wasn't even a real patch.  Just an acre or so of land somebody had rented from the farmer probably and set up as a little pretend pumpkin patch so they could charge more.  They's strung up dried corn stalks and Indian Corn and piled up bales of hay and then randomly scattered their pumpkins around in the dirt and my brother and I had run around for awhile in the mud among them frantically searching for the perfect future jack-o-lantern.  I remember hearing from my parents a lot about that one being "too big" or "too expensive" or "too smashed in on one side," before we eventually chose something acceptable and headed home.  

I'm not sure if that was the only year we went to real patch like that, but it's the only year I remember. I'm guessing I was around 6 or 7 based on the fact that I remember it at all, and that both my parents were still there, but I could be totally wrong.  Where we got pumpkins every other year is completely beyond me.  Did we go to patches more than just that one time?  It doesn't really matter at all, I guess.

What does matter, is that I remember that silly family outing to the fake pumpkin patch and it was special.  I want those types of memories to fill my children's minds: special times of us, TOGETHER.

Matt and I made a rough plan to visit a fairly exciting pumpkin patch I'd found on the internet that weekend.

And then, well, I don't really remember what happened exactly but there was this big TO DO with the kids.  It had something to do with the fact that we had snacks for after soccer that weekend and both Peter and A.J. were bring crazy rude and demanding about having to get GATORADE to pass out because the best snacks always included GATORADE and the cheap parents just bring CarpriSun pouches.  Except Gatorade, is kind of expensive, times 9 kids on A.J.'s team and 14 kids on Peter's team and what the heck do you think we are made of money?!?!?!

It was starting to seem like through all our efforts to give the kids opportunities and memories and the best of things whenever possible, we were raising three demanding, spoiled little, ungrateful MONSTERS.

UGH.

We very nearly cancelled the trip.  

But.... their memories.  

Our memories....

MY MEMORIES.

After a lengthy family conversation about privileges and gratefulness we headed out Saturday afternoon after soccer.  The kids were on heavy warning not to whine or cry or demand ANYTHING.  We would get pumpkins, and maybe do one or two fun things while we were there, but they were to be happy with whatever happened and for the love of all things, be polite and thankful.

We arrived early in the afternoon.  I was pretty pleased with the place.  You never really know what you're going to end up with when you find a place online.

A.J. was sporting a rather weird four-way french braid which she had requested
randomly that morning for soccer.  I'd done it for her, mostly to see how it would turn out.  

They had this "How Tall This Fall" sign just inside where the kids cold measure themselves.  I mean, I think the point is to take a picture there each year and see your growth.  Obviously, this was our first visit, but the pictures are still cute.

Peter as basically exactly 4 feet tall measured right up to the guys hand which was funny.

A.J. didn't do as good a job standing flush with the sign but she is a few inches shorter than her brother.

Lucy is so close to 3 feet already.  

There was a guy selling honey and honey products set up there.  He had this glass honeycomb thing that the kids could look through and see the bees and their honey.

This pumpkin patch had all sorts of things to do.  There was 2 train rides, a merry-go-round, a petting zoo, 2 different corn mazes and a corn butterfly walk through trail, crafts, "punkin-chunkin," food, live music and probably more.  We had a family meeting.  We could do two "fun" things as a family if the kids could agree.  Then we would get our pumpkins and that would be our day.  The kids decided to ride the train and do the butterfly trail and Matt got in line to buy tickets.

Peter

A very squinty A.J.

Lucy

Then we headed out to find the tables to have the lunch we'd brought.

A.J. quickly decided she didn't want to walk.
Since we hadn't brought a double stroller (A.J. is about to be 5 after all)
Lucy made do to give up her seat and ride in the basket underneath with my purse.

Lunch,  (The tables were all full so we found a bench instead.)

They had these scare crows up all over the place.  Each one had a name tag.
 Peter was excited to find one called "Sneaky Pete."  (We never did find an A.J. or a Lucy.)

Daddy got some kettle corn to supplement lunch.
(I'm fairly certain he only puts up with the annual pumpkin patch trip
every year if he can get some kettle corn.)

While we ate they were doing the weigh-ins for the pumpkin contest.  We were there at a good time as they seemed to be doing the champions.  That one was 1,522 lbs.

I think that particular pumpkin came in about 3rd.  The winner was over 1,800 lbs. and we heard another one weigh in around 1,700 lbs.

Whoa.

After lunch we got in line to ride the train.

Thankfully the train was long so our wait was short, only one ride went before we got on.

Lucy waiting for the train.

Peter and Lucy waiting for the train.  There was a sign to measure height because kids under a certain size could ride free.
Lucy was free but she didn't want to be.  She wanted to be big and tall like her brother.  

When our turn to board came, the kids were fascinated to see the train conductor....

When they asked, Matt confirmed to them that it was Santa Claus.  

He must have taken a side job where he could check up on the kids behavior during that last of the slow season before the big winter push. :)

My lot didn't seem entirely sure so Santa gave them his card.  It did indeed confirm that he is Santa Claus (and he's available for event bookings and special events.)  Haha.

I tried to sit with Peter and A.J. and let Lucy ride with Matt but she wouldn't have any of that.
She wanted to ride with her siblings so Matt and I were relegated to sit behind them.

Santa, driving the train.

Some photos from our train trip around the farm:

There was a "scavenger hunt" on the ride where the kids were supposed to see if they could find 5 special golden pumpkins.  I thought that was a nice touch, even if A.J. didn't manage to see all 5, regardless of the fact that Matt and I pointed them all out for her.

Again, Peter checking in with Santa, trying to decided if it was really him.

In the end, he was convinced and launched into one of his very sweet and somewhat sucking up monologues about how Christmas is his most favorite holiday and how he's been a very good boy and if possible he'd like a new race track.

A.J. wasn't as convinced.  In fact, just last night before bed she said to me softly, thoughtfully, that she isn't sure Santa is real....

(I sent Lucy to bed first to avoid having her hear he sisters reasoning, but A.J. dropped the matter herself in favor of me reading her Fancy Nancy book to her instead.  But, ugh, I'm not looking forward to the next time she brings that up.)

Then we went to find our corn butterfly trail.  Which is, to say, a trail, through the corn, that teaches about butterflies.  Kind of like a corn maze but with none of the fear of getting lost with for the small kids.  (Just in case you thought maybe corn-butterflies were a new thing, or something.)

It seems a large dinosaur inhabits the biggest corn maze.  Hahah.

On our way to the corn mazes/trail, we saw all the contestants from the Pumpkin Weigh-In.

Woah.

I wonder if you can carve the big ones.  I mean, if you can't carve them can you cook with them?
Otherwise, what are they even for besides Gigantic Pumpkin contests?!?!

Finally we made our way to our trail:

Along the path, every 20 yards were so were little stations to teach the kids about butterflies.

Finally, we got to a big clearing filled with flowers and butterfly sculptors.  

There were also lots and lots of bees so we were all glad the flowers were behind a fence and nobody got stung.

Matt and I couldn't decide if we were glad they were sculptors or if we'd wished there were real butterflies.  A.J. used to scream when butterflies got too close to her, and I find them to have too many legs for my liking in general, but then again, if it had been an enclosure with real butterflies, that might have been more fun for the kids.

Anyway, with our two fun things done, it was for the main event: picking our pumpkins!

Well, no.  Actually first Mommy wanted a lot of pictures.

None of the kids was too happy to pose for pictures but in the end they cooperated.

Then we set to pumpkin hunting.  Matt did his best to remind the children that we would be carving these pumpkins so we'd want ones that were oval shaped and even with a nice long, smooth surface to make a face.

They all seemed to listen intently to their father's instructions and then set out about completely ignoring what they'd just heard.

Lucy's goal seemed to be to find the biggest one that she could still lift herself.

A.J. wanted all the cute and kind of sad, pathetic ones that she seemed worried nobody else would want.

Peter?  Well, I can't say for certain what he was looking for because he was flittering around at warp speed hopping from one jumble of pumpkins to the next.  He'd seem to choose one and then change his mind a moment later and honestly, I wondered if he'd ever choose one.

I kind of just wanted one of them to pick something really, big, because, come on.... big giant pumpkins are fun.

(Also, in general, the pumpkins in California are all kind of puny compared with the ones I remember in Ohio as a kid.  But you never can trust memories when it comes to size, can you?)

In any case, Lucy settled herself on one first.  It was nice and even and stood upright on its own. Matt checked the stem and the bottom and tapped the sides to see if it wasn't squishy already.  

It passed his tests!

He helped her secure her treasure in the stroller for safe keeping.

Meanwhile, A.J. was deep in thought....

Peter was searching....

Matt stepped in to try to help A.J.

Look how she's standing.  Clearly she's been playing too much soccer lately.

Finally A.J. found a smallish one that had a decent stem and wasn't crooked or rotting.  She seemed to think it was cute.  Once she'd made up her mind she was set.  But then she became deeply concerned, whining in a sing song sort of way that "something might happen to my pumpkin and then I'll have to start searching all over again for another pumpkin and surely I would never be able to find one I love as much as this pumpkin and and that would be terrible and OH PLEASE don't let anything happen to this one because I LOOOOooooove it Mommy and we have to protect it!!!!"

(Except say all of that again with a lisp.  Her lisp.

Then you can properly imagine how she sounded.)

Kay?

Anyway so here she is with her beloved:

Matt added it to the stroller.

Peter buzzed around a while longer.

I ran after him and eventually together we settled on a nice big one that wasn't, like, totally ridiculous.

Well, at least it didn't seem totally ridiculous until after Matt picked it up.

Hahah.  It's okay.  It isn't even as big as he is.  :)

So that was that.

It was a nice day.

It's a shame there had to be threats and scolding before hand, but I think maybe that is the only way to deal with problems as a parent.  Kids.... people even, are naturally selfish and we just have to keep working to keep it in check.

Anyway, can't wait to carve these suckers up..... :)

* * * * * * * * * *

PS, For the sake of nostalgia, if you'd like, you can visit my posts about our previous Pumpkin Patch trips by clicking on the dates below.

2009  (our first year with baby Peter, in Monterey)
2010  (me enormously pregnant with A.J, still in Monterey)
2011  (Matt was in Iraq, we were in Washington)
2012  (back in San Diego, together as a family of 4 again)
2013  (Lucy was new on the scene, we were still in San Diego)
and
2014  (Last year, still in San Diego)