The Great Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend, the family of three visited the pumpkin patch at The Country Mercantile. First we ran a few errands, ate Japanese food, and then headed for the fun. Van was particularly excited about the whole picking a pumpkin thing.

When we arrived, there was a perfect little spot for a photo op. I plopped Holly down and this is what I got. She was pretty tired, as it was technically nap time and I kept her awake in the car on the way there so she wouldn't sleep through all the fun.
Then, Van & Holly climbed all the way to the top of a ginormous stack of hay bales. There were some kids who were trying to play king of the hill on it, but their parents kept yelling at them to stop. I'm sure they were imagining broken arms or other casualties of war!
We wandered over to another (less busy) stack of hay bales and it took a lot of persuading to get Holly to climb up on one herself. She wasn't particularly thrilled with the feel of the hay. It reminded me of her reaction to grass this spring.

Eventually, she was convinced to climb up all by herself. Mostly because Van climbed up first, sat down, and talked Holly into joining her. I'm still not sure Holly was thrilled with the whole touching hay thing, but these are growth experiences, right? Or will she be scarred for life because I forced her to do crazy things like touch hay?

Then we headed over to the petting zoo. I was hoping we could put the horse, but the lady said that he was really cranky, fed up with people, and would be going home that night (even though they are open until Halloween)! So Holly tentatively pet the sheep after Mama and Van showed her that it truly was ok.
The cows had flies all over them, so we skipped them and went to the goats instead. Holly seemed to like them better. I don't know if it was because there were more of them or because the brown one was friendlier and interested in being pet.

Whatever the reason, Holly made herself at home and sat with the goats for a little while before we headed out to the pumpkin patch.

As I said earlier, Van was excited about this part. She searched far and wide for the perfect pumpkin! I wished that I had had a video camera with me because Van went bouncing through the pumpkin patch, would stop and turn around to wave periodically, then continue to scrutinize each of the larger pumpkins for the perfect, beautiful pumpkin. Occasionally, she would pick one out, carry it to the edge of the patch and go on to see if she could find a better one. It was incredibly fun for me to watch how much enjoyment she got from this!

While Van was searching far, far away, Holly and I stayed closer to the hay wagons and she did a little picking of her own. I think she tried to pick up every pumpkin in the vicinity! It cracked me up watching her because I think almost every one of them weighed more than she did!

It was a taxing activity, especially with no nap, but we eventually picked out four pumpkins; two larger ones and two small ones. They are still uncarved and sitting on our front porch. Holly got to ride in the wagon with the pumpkins back to the car. She had one big one to lean against, and one to hold on to.
By the time we got back to the car, she had slid down in the wagon and was basically lying down with her head propped up on the biggest pumpkin. This picture makes me smile because I think its so sweet. It really shows her attitude about the whole day..."just give me a nap already!"

After putting the pumpkins in the car, we went inside to buy homemade chicken enchiladas and caramel apples to take home. After we ate the caramel apples, Van asked if we could send some to her mother in June right before she leaves to go back to Vietnam. I had to break the news to her that apples are fall fruits and that we really only get good caramel apples at this time of year (and that the Country Mercantile doesn't make them in the spring). She was very disappointed in this news!

We had a great time out in the fresh air and sunshine all afternoon and Holly zonked out early Sunday night! Hopefully, we will get the pumpkins carved this weekend. Van has seen some on other people's front porches and is looking forward to making a super cool face on hers. I'll keep you posted on how they turn out!

On a different note, Holly had her 18 month checkup last week and I could have sworn that she had gained at least 6-7 pounds since her 12 month visit. Alas, wrong again! She was a mere 21 pounds, but had shot up to the 14th percentile in weight (This is laughable, I know, that the 14th percentile would be way up! But she was in the 3rd percentile before, so its all a matter of perspective!). Everything else was super great, and she was a real trooper about her 4 shots.