As you may have already read, Alton and I went to a pumpkin patch on a playgroup outing in the middle of the week. By that weekend, the weather was still clear, sunny, and even warm, so we decided it was the perfect Saturday to head back over to the pumpkin patch with Daddy and avail ourselves of some of the weekend-only activities and even more pumpkins!
First stop: the train ride, of course!
This large pumpkin patch has a barn area where you purchase your pumpkins, tickets, and other sundries, but to walk to the other side of the property to start picking through the pumpkin patch is quite a trek, so they have a train ride and boat ride to shuttle you out there and save you from walking the round trip. You can take the train out to the patch and boat back to the barn, or vice versa if you like!
Out at the patch, they provide wheelbarrows for you to push amongst the vines and ferry your choices over to the modes of transportation.
Alton checked out the ponies that were doing the pony rides, but wasn't quite ready to don the riding helmet and hop on. Instead, he scrambled to the top of the haybales!
Fun!
They even had a small hay maze for him to run around in, and we encountered one of his little playgroup friends while we were twisting and turning.
Then it was pumpkin-picking time.
Alton focuses on grabbing another baby pumpkin or two.
Or eating them, in some cases. Mmm.
Daddy grabbed a wheelbarrow and headed for one of the behemoth pumpkins, then wheeled it onto the boat for our ride back to the barn.
Their big reservoir has been equipped with some sights, like a pirate ship, sea monsters, a fisherman, and a shark!
Back on dry land, we saw the face-painting table! Alton had never done this before and expressed an interest, so I showed him their poster board full of sample designs, and told him to choose one for them to paint on his face.
He picked the boat, of course!
Alton and his boat!
On our way out to the parking lot, we saw the "caterpillar rides," and Alton flagged down the driver with some ones.
This is a long train of black and orange plastic barrels that have been modified to have seats in them for children, pulled by a tractor. Alton may look stricken in this picture, but he was stoked to ride the caterpillar! He was in total awe of the tractor up front.
And off they go around the vegetable patch!
Heading back up the driveway, waving to Mommy and Daddy.
Waving to the little guy in front of him.
What a fun morning! Time to head over to Daddy's truck and drive home with that gigantic pumpkin I mentioned. Whew! That was close!
No wisecracks about the title of this post! Alton had some fun yesterday playing with his good buddies *B and *F, and upon our departure Elizabeth invited Alton to select a pumpkin from the collection on their front porch, because their backyard garden had yielded plenty of orange orbs to share around. After contemplating his options, Alton indicated that he wanted to take home...their scarecrow decoration! He asked what it was, and was delighted at the looks of this fun stuffed man with fake corn husks hanging off of him. I explained that we couldn't take their scarecrow, we chose an alternate pumpkin, and I drove off toward home amidst a chirping chorus of, "Where is the scarecrow? I want to see the scarecrow," from the backseat. I had been thinking earlier in the week that I wished we had more fun seasonal decorations, but wasn't really interested in shelling out bucks for paper skeletons and the like to tape outside in the elements. A good, homemade scarecrow is just what we needed! I promised Alton that we would make one together, and today we accomplished just that. I figured I could wing it on a design and pattern...right? I looked through my bin of leftover fabric and grabbed a Sharpie.
Here I am, winging it! Head.
Shirt.
Trousers...and cut.
Pinning and stitching.
I just used whatever thread was already on the machine: black.
Alton snapped this one.
Assembling shirt and trousers together.
The scrap man is coming together out of remnants, much like the scarecrows of yore.
Another Alton photo original.
The part Alton got to help with: the stuffing!
Making his yarn feet.
And yarn hands.
The headless horseman! Complete with Minerva foot photobomb.
Alton's viewpoint.
The scarecrow gets ahead. (Geddit?!)
He is almost complete!
Two little Halloween elves.
And he gets a face! Andy lashes him to his sharpened wooden stake and we plunge him down into a potted plant. Alton poses with finished scarecrow and our two pumpkins. (Thanks Elizabeth for the one on the right!)
Boo!
Some mornings, Alton wakes up before Andy has left for work. While Daddy is downstairs eating breakfast and packing his lunch, Alton gets a diaper change and then hurries down to make sure he gets in his hugs and goodbyes. Last week, before Andy had a chance to pack his lunch bag, Alton commandeered it from the countertop and said, "I'm going to work with Daddy."
He began to scurry around picking up his favorite toys, filling the lunch box with "the things I need that I will take to Daddy's work." He looks down at the bulging lunch box, doubtful that his fridge farm will fit.
He heads over to his toy bins for a load of monster trucks.
Finally, we're full!
Zips it up.
Just grab 'n go, right?
Poor little guy! Daddy had to go to work without him, of course, but luckily we had some fun plans in store for this morning--a playgroup outing to the pumpkin patch! Last year, most of our pumpkin patch outings were rained out, so this year I set them on the calendar as early as possible. We wound up with a gorgeous, sunny fall day and pretty much the entire patch to ourselves!
Cousin *P was one of the attendees. Alton entreats her to chase him!
Most of my pictures of them look like this--running away from the camera.
This patch is a particular favorite because they have both a train and a boat. Your admission ticket buys you a ride on each one. We're "all aboard" to head out to the far end of the pumpkin patch.
Auntie Karen and *P are ready to go!
Out at the other end of the property, they have u-pick pumpkins, or ones that have been harvested already. Alton uses two hands to grasp his baby pumpkin.
For the way back to the barn to buy our gourds, we ride the boat. Alton hands off his ticket to the pilot.
And off we go! Our baby pumpkin is already proudly displayed on the dining table at home. Hope for more bright fall days like this.
