Little Brick Houses for You and Me: Pumpkin Patch 2017

Last week we made our annual visit to the local pumpkin patch. I admit I get a kick out of it as much as the kids do. There are just so...many...photo opportunities! Also, although we are good for pumpkins since we grow our own, it is always fun to look at the unique varieties of gourds and other ornamental pumpkins they sell to get ideas for our crop next year. And, of course, the kids love it. Seasonal activities (you know...Easter egg hunts, trick or treating, that one time Santa Clause was reading at story time at the library and someone's two year old son refused to sit down in the packed room and was running around in circles and started a riot of other kids running around so his mom had to make a hasty exit and missed the free photo opportunity...things like that...) often descend into less than perfect chaos but as far as I can remember our kids have always had a good time at the pumpkin patch.

I have been seeing pictures from our previous trips on my Facebook flashback photos so I went back into my albums to find some of my favorites.

These are from 2013, the first year we went.

Believe it or not, I was eight months pregnant in this photo. Oh, the good old days of only being pregnant twice when my face didn't look inflated like a balloon...

What a cute little only child he was.

The corn was his favorite even then.

Now, we jump ahead to 2015 because I couldn't find the folder with the 2014 pictures. Don't worry...I found it but they will be out of order. Gaaaah!! Please don't leave!

Milo was a newborn for this outing. As you can see, we tried to arrange a nice family photo on this huge pumpkin but it didn't work.

He slept through the whole outing.

I don't know what I was thinking with that white shirt Tessa is wearing!

She was so cute! Still a baby herself with a new baby brother!

Everyone loves this wood combine.

OK, now we jump back to 2014.

When the patch opens the whole expanse of ground is covered with pumpkins. We usually go later in the season but it is a pretty cool sight when it is full. We actually know the main pumpkin supplier's family. His daughter and son-in-law went to college with us and the son-in-law was Justin's roommate so we know some of what goes on behind the scenes and I will say there are massive quantities of pumpkins delivered here every year.

At least one year I managed to wear the perfect little fall outfit because I wasn't pregnant, nursing, or less than a week out of the hospital from giving birth.

Last year we actually didn't manage a visit as a family but I chaperoned Ben's school trip and brought Milo and Tessa with me. I have a few pictures but they are in my phone folder which is a bottomless pit of thousands of pictures and I just don't feel like getting into it right now. I do recall that Tessa was wearing a crazy rainbow sweater and Milo's John Deere winter hat even though it was early in September and not cold out.

This picture isn't from the pumpkin patch but I just had to share it because it is one of my favorites of Ben and Tessa! I guess I would make a face too if someone laid my bald head on a bed of leaves.

Now...finally on to 2017. This was Milo's first real pumpkin patch experience and it did not disappoint him.

Back on the combine seat!

Tessa was wearing a very cute outfit with a pretty fall colored floral shirt because it was her picture day at preschool that morning. But...she changed a few times in the afternoon and ended up wearing the lovely ensemble you see here with rubber rain boots. Whatever...I don't care anymore.

They definitely had a bath when we got home.

These swings weren't there last year. They were fun. I tried one and was so shaky and embarrassing that an older elementary school aged girl standing nearby tried to give me a lesson. I said I thought I was too pregnant to be on those swings but I'm probably just too old.