To the Pumpkin Patch!

Thanks to a great tip from a friend (thanks Kari!) we headed off as a family to the pumpkin patch today. Matt and I hadn't been since childhood and Nathan has been dying to go (thanks to the idea from various halloween books and Charlie Brown's Halloween movie). We had so much fun!

First, we went through the "sunflower" maze. Yes, this is the "baby" corn maze - you won't seriously get lost in it. However, I have a bad taste in my mouth for real corn mazes (they had one of those too), probably thanks to a college FHE night at the corn maze in which it was really dark, I truly couldn't find my way out, and, to top it off, they had men running around trying to make girls scream with their chainsaws! So, can you blame me, I don't do real corn mazes any more!

Next was one of our favorite parts of the day - a mountain of hay. We got there and no other kids were on top of it, but Nathan and Carter quickly figured out the great thing about this mountain - throwing it!! Carter was especially gleeful and we had the hardest time taking him away from it. Maybe he had finally found justice in the world! Luke was just too cute sitting in the hay.

Oh, boy oh boy oh boy!
Fire away!

Take that Nathan!

Whee!! Look, I can make a mess and Mommy doesn't care! Freedom!

Hey, Carter, let's gang up on Daddy!

Just too darn cute!


Nathan looking cute too (Carter wouldn't hold still long enough for a "cute hay" pic!)

After that, Nathan was just dying to go pick out a pumpkin. He was convinced he would find the "perfect" one. Of course, every one he saw was the "perfect" one (even a few rotting ones), but we finally directed him towards a winner. Here are our picks, not including the little baby pumpkin we got for Lukie:

Here's our pumpkins!

One of the many, many "perfect" pumpkins
Mom, I can't carry it - it's too heavy! Oh, you mean the wheelbarrow we brought isn't just for me to ride in?

Don't worry, mom, I'll carry this!

And finally, we just took a little more time to take some cute fall pictures, Nathan rode a pony, and we all did a little hay ride. Matt and I drove away feeling like we had done our good parent deed for the week, introducing our kids to fall!

Driving a tractor - Grandpa Dell will be so proud!

My new favorite picture of Luke! Cutie Patootie!

Nathan riding his first animal

Two cute little boys (both finally smiling at the same time after only 10 pictures!)