This year, with all the chaos with schedules, I was beginning to worry that there wasn't going to be a trip out there, but everything worked out perfectly - God was good. We didn't have to go on a weekend, when it's all so busy and crowded with lots of people, we went on a Friday and the weather was PERFECT!! You'll notice the blue skies...
The pumpkin patch experience these days involve tons of activities other than just picking your pumpkin. It's really an all day event! We arrived early enough and were ready to get started!
It was so bright, Tommy asked for my sunglasses. It was the last time I saw those glasses, by the way. I never buy those expensive sunglasses because they always get lost or broken. I do have to say that these are the pair that I've owned the longest, ever! Now they are gone. That's ok...I'm sporting these aviator glasses these days.
We decided to do our hayride to the pumpkin patch first, get our pumpkins, put them in the car and then enjoy all the activities. But first, we grabbed our two free apples to enjoy on our ride.
Something about these apples! So yummy. They were crisp, juicy and fresh! I don't think I can ever go back to those store-bought apples. I always end up getting mushy ones and after eating one of those, I can't even entertain the thought of another apple.
Even my kids ate and enjoyed them.
This was our ride to the pumpkin patch.
Bernadette enjoying the ride.
Anne was having fun with the hay. We had hurricane Irene a month ago and it gave us a lot of rain. They were saying that it effected the crops and that we wouldn't see as many pumpkins. Hmph...don't know about that. I didn't notice. However, the one complaint I had about Butler's Orchard was that we didn't get to actually cut the pumpkin off the vine. We also went on a weekday where they are usually entertaining kids coming on field trips. This means small pumpkins already strategically placed all over the fields. Come on the weekend and you will get bigger pumpkins on vines. Anyway, for our purposes that day, it was just fine.
We got our pumpkins. For some reason, Tommy likes to pick the strangest pumpkin out there. It's not orange, it's not round, it's got marks all over it! What is he thinking? I keep telling him to go get another pumpkin. We settled for a perfectly small green pumpkin this year (which has turned orange since).
We put the pumpkins into our car and headed off to the slides. By the way, I invited one of the kids' friend from school also our neighbor to come with us - she's #22. The slides are so much fun. You grab a piece of burlap and slide down super fast!
When I see an open field, like the one behind them, I just want to run through it! Look at that sky!!! Love it.
After going down the slides a bazillion times we headed off to the hayloft where you could just go crazy. Fun stuff!
Bernadette was so small, she could get lost in there. It got really crowded in there with all the other kiddos.
We also did a corn maze, but not all the kids wanted to do it since we got lost in a really big one last year. So it was just a few of us and we got through it in less than 10 minutes! There were so many other cute activities that were all "farm" related and creative.
We even got to feed some animals.
Heehaw....
We called it quits for the day but before going I had to go by the store they had where I bought my normal sized pumpkins for carving! I loved going in their store - so many neat things.
They had so many types of pumpkins, gourds and funky gourds. If I could just pick this table up and put it in my front yard for a halloween decoration, I would. I picked three big pumpkins which were acceptable by my standards and I bought some mums as well. I love those!
I would like to say that my mums are still alive today. Fully bloomed and lovely! However, they are suffering in this freezing weather we are currently having. But do I know if my mums will survive or not? We'll just find out, won't we?
It was a good day. See ya next year...
