Finally, a trip to the pumpkin patch!

Geesh, it was always so easy to find a pumpkin patch when we lived in Illinois! Heck, we could have walked 1/10 mile down our road to our nearest neighbor and picked a pumpkin out of HIS pumpkin patch. But around here, pumpkins are hard to find. Unless you’re interested in picking one out of the big pile in the produce section at the grocery store.

Last year we made a bad choice and ended up paying over $50 for a couple of sorry little pumpkins, from a so-called ‘patch’ that was actually more like a couple of hay bales and some pre picked pumpkins from which to choose. So I put a bit of effort into finding the right place to take the fam this year. Even though we were too far to drive to a you -pick -it -in -the -field pumpkin patch, we were able to find a little farm: goats, horses, boiled peanuts, pumpkins, old rusted out tractor bodies and all. The kids were SO excited to go, I guess our annual visit to the pumpkin patch (or the next best substitute) has become the harbinger of Halloween at our house.

After being at church the kids were ready to run wild, and run wild they did. Dalton brought his beloved football (that kid lives to play football) and we had a toss around while the little ones fed hay to the goats. Jude absolutely loves animals and wasn’t the tiniest bit afraid to put his arm through the fencing to pet a big ‘ol billy goat. He cracked up when he nibbled hay from his hand. The boys had a blast chasing the guinea hens around, trying to see how loud they could make them squawk. Zach stayed busy noting all the cool *stuff* around (aka junk to you and me) and managed to climb to the tippy top of the haypile, making his mom just the tiniest bit anxious. Sophie enjoyed picking her pumpkin, looking for the perfect specimen to claim as her own. Isabelle, as usual, loved being out in the wide open and ran from horse to goat to peacock to rooster back to goat again all before we could catch up with her. It was a good day for pumpkin picking.