Saturday, October 31, 2009

Pumpkin Patches Are Not Just for Charlie Brown

I was visiting my friend PJ Mullen’s blog a few weeks ago when he put the thought of pumpkin patches in my head. I commented that we didn’t have things like that in small town Arkansas. Then I thought to myself that statement didn’t make much sense. If you can’t grow fruits and vegetables in rural America then where can you grow them? So I went home and asked Arica if we had any pumpkin patches in our area.

She proceeded to do some research and found that we had two within about 20 miles. She did some more reading and told me which one was the best. We went and had an awesome time. The results of our visit are detailed below.

Here we are upon arrival.

After that we visited the petting zoo. Braden did not like the horse.

He did like the rabbits.


He didn’t really care about the baby ducks. He was too busy looking at the scary chickens to his right.


Then we went to the pumpkin patch. Braden picked out two pumpkins right away.
Then we visited the hay covered playground. Braden could not go on the slide, but he had fun anyway.
Then we moved on to my favorite part of the day. The pumpkin patch had a John Deere lawn mower pulled train. The cars were made from 55 gallon drums that were painted John Deere Green and turned into train cars. There were several kids on the train. Braden was the youngest by far, and he was the only kid riding all by himself. At first I thought maybe Arica and I would be voted parents of the year by our fellow pumpkin patchers. Then the ride started and it was all ok. Braden had so much fun. He rode around the entire premises with his arm resting on the side of the cart. He smiled and laughed the whole way. The only time he got mad was when we took him out of the car at the end of the ride. It was awesome.



Finally we closed out the day with a hay ride. Braden fell asleep for part of it. Of course after all this fun he was a very tired boy.

This was my first visit to a pumpkin patch. Before this my only knowledge of a pumpkin patch was Charlie Brown camping out all night looking for the Great Pumpkin. Needless to say I had an amazing time even though we didn’t see the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, or even a pumpkin pie. I am certain that this will become a family tradition for Braden, Arica, and I. When we have another rugrat we will bring them too.

8 comments:

Melisa Wells said...

What a great day! I'm so glad that you (okay, not you: Arica!) found somewhere to take Braden! The pictures are great too. My favorite is the one of him with Arica and the ducks. The look on his face is hysterical ("Don't mess with me and my mom, chickens!").

Anonymous said...

Awesome, glad you and Arica found one to go to! Great pics, looks like he had a blast. We wanted to go on a hay ride, but we went in the middle of the week and there weren't enough people, so they didn't offer them.

Manic Mommy said...

Looks like a wonderful time! When we do our annual punkin huntin' pilgrimage, we always think about the memories we're building for our boys.

KWG said...

Rockin' good times and pics. We went to a local harvest festival a week ago and will go every year with Bea. She loved the pumpkins and the animals and everything. Hope you all had a Happy Hallow's Eve!

seashore subjects said...

I loved the pics. The train is great, Braden looks like he was having a great time in it!

WeaselMomma said...

That looks a wonderful family day! Next time you must find a pumpkin patch with attached country store that sells pies.

Rob said...

That is awesome you guys had such a great time. My kids love going to the pumpkin patch as well for the food, rides and pumpkins.

Great pictures. You have a very nice looking family!

SurprisedMom said...

It looks like all of you had a great time! Thanks for sharing your day and an extra special thanks for the photos! He's growing up so fast! You DO have a great looking family!