10/19/2009

Pumpkin Patch Day:

Today we went to the local pumpkin patch at Love Creek Orchard. We had been planning today for a while, and Nathan (in particular) was beside himself with anticipation.

We started out the day by building scarecrows. Nathan has learned all about scarecrows from a book that we regularly read. He very much enjoyed selecting the clothing for his creation:

Then it was on to the hay maze. Nathan raced through the maze! Nia was pretty clingy and would only participate if Nick held her:

At the end of the maze, the folks at the orchard had set up several of the big round hay bales for the kids to climb on, jump off of, and slide down. Nathan and his friend Hannah (the daughter of my friend Judy) probably would happily have spent the day at this section of the orchard:

There was a small petting zoo area where they let the kiddos hold baby chicks. It's nothing our kids haven't done before, but there is just something irresistible about baby animals! Judy and Hannah shared one chick:

Nathan would have preferred to keep his little chick all to himself:

But he did share, eventually:

Our last major stop was at the pumpkin painting station. Here Hannah and Nathan each selected a pumpkin and proceeded to paint it. Nathan was dead-set on using only green paint:

Hannah was more versatile:

But they both thoroughly enjoyed themselves!:

The same cannot be said for Nia. She wore this expression most of the day:

We tried to get a family picture. This was the best we could do. These family pictures are tricky business with three little ones. Only Lottie could be persuaded to grin:

And since Lottie was a bit too small to really participate in the fall festivities, she mostly just observed from the front seat of the stroller. When we first arrived at the entrance the man who greeted us took one look at Lottie and said, "Looks like you've already got a Pumpkin!" We sure do.

And that was it. A couple of fun hours and both girls fell fast asleep in the car on the way home. Nathan has his prize pumpkin. And, in general, we're pumpkin-patched-out until next October.