Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch

Ok...there are alot of photo's in this one, so bear with me if they load slow. We have an ancient dial-up connection here and trust me...they might load slowly for you, but that's nothing compared to uploading them on my end!

First off, Saturday we visited a pumpkin patch with the handful of children from our church. No, we don't do the whole halloween thing at all. Honestly, you can dress a pig in pretty clothes and take him to church, but it's still just a pig and he simply doesn't belong there....still, we went. I'm a hypocrit, I guess.

The 'patch' was a large farm with several fields of pumpkins you could select from yourself (do you know how long it takes children to select their own pumpkin???? It's a loonnggg time, trust me!)
They had a large, inflatible slide thing, a race track set up with peddle cars and tricycles and such, a ring for pony rides, a few animals for the petting zoo and a hay bale maze in a small barn.
We played a short while, then took the hay wagon out to the fields and everyone got a pumpkin to bring home -- we'll be canning ours this week.

I'll just share the pictures and you can look around with our family...

Here's my group...sitting on top inside the inflatible bouncer slide...they are trying to decide who gets to be the brave one and head out first. There's Jacob, David, Matthew turned around backwards and Miss KatiAnne (and Hunter, our Pastor's grandson). I noticed that most of the 'city kids' waited very patiently while the strange "amish" children tested themselves here. LOL...what those poor folks must have been thinking! I know...we do need to get out and about more, don't we?
The first ones out? Wild Child, of course...and Miss KatiAnne...

It was David's birthday and he was convinced the whole day was for him. The inflatible slide posed some issues for him, though. He simply doesn't have the weight to keep him on it -- he would bound over the top and begin to slide down, just to bounce most of the way down because it was more 'springy' than he was 'weighty'

And what happens when, as D at As Simply As We Can mentioned on her blog, when country goes to town?

The poor country children are duped by the city folk into milking a wooden cow....yes, apparently my children need to get out a bit more. I said that, didn't I? These are those moments when you do need a bit more of being 'of' the world and not just 'in' it I think ;o)

Here is eldest and youngest daughters, Miss Jennifer and Miss Emily. They look so impressed with the converted cotton wagon ride to the field, don't they? Honestly, Miss Emily about fell asleep with the motion of the wagon across those fields -- both on the way out and coming back in! It is a good picture of the two of them, though, even if Miss Jennifer didn't want her's taken.

And poor Miss Emily in the field...she was looking at me as though I had abandoned her to carry her pumpkin alone so I could take pictures of her misery. Note to other parents: Ok, I sort of did...but *Dad* wanted to see lots of pictures of the day...I had to be just a by-stander! He made me do it. It's all Dad's fault :o) Besides, doesn't carrying your own pumpkin, by yourself, across the whole field, promote character or something?
She made it about 5 steps toting that pumpkin before she put it back down and said she was too heavy to carry it.

But, along came David to encourage her...he took a few steps with his pumpkin, then came back and carried hers...back and forth like that all the way out of the field (yes, so Mom could take pictures...LOL)

Here is KatiAnne with her pumpkin, Johanna with her choice, and way out there is Matthew, trying to help Miss Ashley from church select hers so he can help her carry it back to the wagon. Now, Miss Ashley comes from rather stout farm raised Southern stock...she really didn't need help carrying a pumpkin, but Matthew, well...always the gentleman :o)

After the pumpkin field, we stopped back at the farm kitchen and got some drinks before heading home. The children all played in the race track section. They had several different bicycles and tricycles and such.
Miss KatiAnne grabbed one of the large tricycles and took off -- with Abigail behind her telling her she needed to pick a different racer so her peddling wouldn't lift her skirt above her knees! She was right -- KatiAnne made about half a round on that track, with constant pulling on her skirt and apron, and chose a different ride. No one listens when Mom says to wear their bloomers.....

That was about it for the day. They had some huge, nice looking mum plants set out for sale...bright yellows, deep reds, oranges and some purple-shades. I almost bought a couple, but then I remembered the dogs...who would waste little time in dragging them off the porch; And the cats...who would waste little time in using them for a new litter box out there. They were better left where they were.

All in all, the day was fun for everyone. And I put gas in the van before heading out and paid $3.05 a gallon. Not a bad price, considering, but we get over to Blue Mountain and their gas was already down to $2.52 a gallon!!! I could have gotten 15 gallons instead of the 12 gallons I got for my $40. Ugh, ugh and ugh!!!! Still...all considered, the $3.05 was better than the $3.18 it was on Thursday, so I didn't suffer too terribly much. And those little 12 gallons was far more gas than my van has seen in a good 3 months now, so all was well.