It's Pumpkin Time!

With most of the month of October off from home football games this year, we got to take our pick of pumpkin patch visiting times.  We decided to go the first weekend that we were home since we were hoping the crowd would be smaller and, if we had to reschedule, we would still have time to before we went to another game.  This was a great idea, until we woke up the morning of our trip, having already told Charlotte that we were going, to pouring down rain.

We looked at the radar and determined that while it was pouring at our house, the farm was out of the rain and so we would still be good to go even if it would be cold and possibly damp.  We called our friends that we had planned to go with and confirmed that we would meet up at 9.  As soon as we got the kids up, we got them in their carseats with breakfast in snack traps to make the trek to the pumpkin patch.  Charlotte was super excited since this was her third visit, but James wasn't real interested since he couldn't remember last year's trip.

It was chilly and oh-so-windy when we got there but Charlotte's excitement was contagious and we bundled up and got ready to enjoy the brisk morning!

James upgraded this year to the Baby Bjorn so he could actually see what was going on this year, but he still never got down so he just watched Sissy experience everything.  I know that next year, when he's walking (although, I guess he'll be running by then), he'll enjoy it more!

I know the pictures of Charlotte petting the piglets are blurry but I wanted to include them as proof that (1) she did pet them and (2) I did let her.  She was a little disappointed though that they didn't "oink" throughout her visit.

Charlotte also got to check out the cow from the pig's pen and also saw a billy goat.  Surprisingly, she wouldn't touch the bunnies this year which she loved last year.

Charlotte loved the corn crib though!  She had fun letting Daddy bury her legs!

But once they got out of the corn crib and tried to slide a little, we realized that all the slides were sopping wet from the rain the night before.  Most of them also ended into mud puddles.  So instead of sliding, she and Daddy climbed the big mountain of tractor tires until they conquered it!

She then checked out all the pumpkins in the sheds before determining that we needed to head out to the pumpkin patch to get a good one.

Charlotte and Daddy trekked through the field before finding two beautiful pumpkins.  Charlotte tried to pick one up but found that they were a lot heavier than they looked to her!

James and I walked into the pumpkin patch, but he enjoyed taking some self-portraits a little more.

Charlotte wanted to ride out in the car with the pumpkins.  You can't see them in these pictures but Charlotte also picked out six small pumpkins (white and orange) and has them all arranged on our front porch!  We're already looking forward to our trip next year!

Charlotte Visits The Pumpkin Patch

Charlotte loves Biscuit books and some of her favorites that we've been reading recently are Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch and Biscuit Visits the Petting Zoo.  So Charlotte was ecstatic when we told her that we were going to go to the pumpkin patch last weekend!  She asked every morning when she got up if it was pumpkin patch day and when I told her how many days there were left until the pumpkin patch she would say, "It's almost pumpkin patch time!"

When it was finally "pumpkin patch day" we headed out as soon as Charlotte finished her bowl of grits.  She couldn't contain her excitement, especially when we told her that there would be animals there too!  We had a great time at the pumpkin patch.  I think I'll let the pictures do the talking about our morning.

Charlotte liked getting in the swing but then didn't want to be pushed.

She also liked trying to pick up any and all pumpkins, including this big one!

And then she got to visit the bunnies!

Pointing to the next one she wanted Daddy to pick up

Time for slides! She wouldn't start going down without holding Jason's hand but had fun going down by herself once he let go of her hand!

James and I were there!  He was all snuggled in the sling with a blanket.  He was nice and toasty even though the wind and 60 degree temps were biting for the rest of us!

Time for the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch!  Charlotte hated the hay at first until her Daddy started picking it up and throwing it in the air.  Then she realized that it can be fun and proceeded to toss it until others joined us in the tractor!

Picking out her first pumpkin

Taking Daddy to find another pumpkin

Trying to pick up the second pumpkin and getting a hand with Daddy...

On the way back to the farm

If you want to be amazed at how much Charlotte's grown in one year and how similar her actions at the pumpkin patch are, check out our visit from last year!

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we set out first thing in the morning to visit the area pumpkin patch.  People from all over the northern half of Alabama and the southern parts of Tennessee come to this working farm in the fall and we wanted to start a tradition of taking Charlotte.  We arrived not long after it opened and were surprised to see the farm already packed with people!  I think we picked the perfect day to go through because even though it was windy it was cool and not hot.  That made it feel much more like fall than if we had visited a few weeks ago!

Our first stop was the big pig hay bale outside of the hay maze.  We didn't venture into the maze but Charlotte loved the pink pig!

After seeing the hay bale pig we went over the petting area and Charlotte got to see some animals up close!

Here she was with the bunny's.  She loved it when they hopped around!

Then we ran into our friends Candy, Chris, and Anna at the lamb area!

Charlotte wasn't afraid to get in there and pet the lamb.  She loved her!

And we got a big kick out of the llama trying to get Jason!

Of course then he tried to get me while I was trying to take pictures of C and the llama! I love C trying to get the llama in the background of this picture!

Charlotte enjoyed going down the slide with Daddy before getting to play in the corn crib!

Then there was a little swinging time before finding the giant pumpkins!

She loved sitting on the big pumpkins but then decided she wanted to pick one up!

Once she realized that the pumpkin wasn't going anywhere she was content to walk over and get her picture taken with Daddy as flowers!

Then Charlotte and I took a spin in a corn husk! Let me tell you, the man on the tractor pulling this ride wasn't afraid to go fast! I was a little nervous about the speed we were taking some of those turns! I was glad that we weren't in the last cart on the ride or I would have been afraid that we would have flown away!

After the corn ride we went and got on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins.  Charlotte loved sitting on the hay like a big girl and kept grabbing big handfuls of it and then throwing it in the air! 

We went on a search for the perfect carving pumpkin and finally found one.  Charlotte insisted on walking around which caused a few problems since the ground was covered with old vines.  Despite a few stumbles we eventually made it to our perfect pumpkin and Charlotte looked on intently as Jason twisted it off its vine. 

Then we had to find a pumpkin that C could carry.  The search for a smaller one took a little longer but we finally found one and Charlotte loves it! 

Sweet little girl was exhausted though at this point and almost fell asleep on the ride back to the farm! 

We packed it up after the hay ride and headed home.  I thoroughly enjoyed our time at the farm and can't wait to go back for many years to come!