Pumpkin Pickin'

We headed out to Patterson Farm on Saturday to pick out our pumpkins to carve and to participate in all the fun activities they have each year in the fall. It is so much fun. They have goats, pigs, chickens, peacocks, turkeys, donkeys, horses, rabbit, and other birds that you can feed, pet, and see.

We went on our wagon ride around the farm first to go to the pumpkin patch to pick out a big pumpkin and an Olivia sized pumpkin. Last year we didn't get to do this because is was dreary and cold so it was very exciting this year.

When we got to the pumpkin patch, Olivia wandered through trying to pick up all the pumpkins, making an exaggerated lifting grunt when they were too heavy for her. Too cute!

We also stopped by the big pile of pumpkins, mums, and the market store. We picked up some yummy pumpkin butter to enjoy at home and weighed and bought our pumpkins. Then we took a photo op and tried to recreate a picture we took the same weekend last year of Olivia. See last year's picture here. It is amazing how much she has grown up in a year. She did not cooperate as much this year sitting on the pumpkin pile. The first time we set her on top, they fell down. After that, she was a little hesitant. We did get a couple of good ones though.

We stopped by the ponies you could ride (but of course neither of us had cash and the pony rides are extra). There was a big horse next to the horse trailer and Olivia was content to pet the it. (I watched 2 kids crying as their parents tried to make the stay on the ponies and figured it was probably best not to put her on one anyway.)

They also had pig races this year. Each of the piglets were named for race car drivers-think Dale Porker, Jr. It didn't last very long, but Olivia squatted down right next to the fence to watch.

Next, we watched Daddy slingshot tomatoes into a field toward a big target. He didn't hit the target but he did manage to hit a goat! Oops!

Our favorite part of the day was the corn box. This is like a sand box, but filled with corn kernals instead. I got in it with Olivia this year. Last year she just sat in the corn and tried to eat it. This year, she layed in it, rolled in it, scooped it up, walked in it. It was so fun! And much easier to clean off than sand. I told Bart I wanted him to build a corn box instead of a sand box in the backyard.

 It was such a fun morning! We are looking forward to carving up our pumpkins and getting them ready for all the trick-or-treaters we hope to have at our new house. Those pictures will be coming soon!