The Great Pumpkin Patch

Ally and I loaded up all five kiddos and drove the hour and fifteen minutes to a great little pumpkin patch called Volmer Farms.  The ride was tough and we threatened to turn around and stop at the "spanking spot" numerous times.  They fussed, fought, argued, etc. the whole way...it was bad.  So bad I hung my phone charger around my rear view mirror and announced it was a "special little belt" to be used on bad children. I know this was mean...but you do what you have to do people.  So we finally arrive and guess what...they were CLOSED!  The tiny farmer's market  and a small pumpkin area was open but the 40 acre play land was indeed closed.  The nice folks let us get them out for lunch and let them run off some of that aggression.  Luckily we were only 10 minutes from Hillridge Farms, another great pumpkin patch that we actually went to last year.  So we loaded them up and off we went.  They had a great time.  They did the huge slide, took a train ride, did the maze, fed animals and played on the swing set.  Our last activity was the hayride to pick out pumpkins to take home.  I took the three big boys and Ally headed to the car with the Jack and Landry.  All was going great, no fighting, a pleasant ride around the farm and then we stopped to hop off to grab a pumpkin.

Okay, imagine this.  One 4.5 year old and two 2.5 year olds in a huge field of hundreds of pumpkins.  I needed a stiff drink by the end (and I don't even drink...).  Cade and Sam immediately started grabbing pumpkins and sorting them...only the perfect ones...and they had to be grouped by size, color, etc.  Forget picking a pumpkin, they had to get things in order...perfect order.  Refer back to my previous post about birth order and feel my pain!

Meanwhile, Cannon is running thru the pumpkins (only pumping that one arm as he run like he always does) and yelling "Gosh O'Mighty...Look at all these pumpkins!" Yes, he is doing his best Chris Farley, sprinting thru the piles, kicking the pumpkins and falling down every three seconds.  

So two are organizing and the third is having his own little party and Lala is ready to go!  Did I mention it was 85 degrees? The tractor was no where in sight to pick us up for the ride back so we started walking back to the car.  Well, the tiredness hit fast and thus the meltdowns began. Sam screamed the whole way back to the car and argued with Cade over whose pumpkin he was holding.  Three exhausted kids, five pumpkins and a very long walk...pure torture.  It was so bad a worker who was on break came over to help me carry pumpkins to the car. Thirty seconds into the walk, he was regretting his kindness I'm sure.

But we made it, and all in all we had fun.  We will head back next Monday to the farm that was closed today.  Maybe the ride will be a little easier...it couldn't get harder.

These faces make me forget that long ride...

 

Jack checks out the animals...

Where do we begin?

"GOSH O'MIGHTY!"

Sweetie...

Don't worry...you guys can ride the tractor next year.