Pumpkin Patch

After learning that Little Tree Orchard did not have a pumpkin patch, we grabbed our apple cider and donuts and hit the road again to find a pumpkin patch. 

Sometimes fall just seems to go by so fast, so fast that when it's over I look back and think about all the things that I wanted to do and didn't. Although there are a million things on my Ithaca Fall Bucket List, I'm feeling pretty satisfied with all the things we have done this month. Our number one goal was to just be outside, enjoy the trees, and the weather. We have done that. Any excuse to get in the car and drive around looking at the trees, we took advantage of.  Which is why weren't too disappointed that there weren't pumpkins at the first farm, it just meant more drive time enjoying the trees.

We ended up at Iron Kettle Farm in Candor, NY. It was really cool. They had their own little Halloween village set up, with tons of games, a corn maze, hayride, food stands, animal farm, haunted barn, train ride, etc. You did have to pay for most of the activities so we chose one and then enjoyed the free stuff (animals and big wood vehicles to play on). We chose the hayride. I felt like a little kid, I was so so so giddy. Having a kid that is old enough to enjoy this stuff is just great (just about everyday he shouts out randomly, "It's Halloween!" and then starts jumping up and down).

Despite his face in the picture below, he really did enjoy the hayride (we were irresponsible parents the night before and kept him up till midnight so that we could selfishly play games with friends. He started to feel it...well, the second he woke up (which is why he was back down for a nap by 10 a.m.), but later in the day too...I promise we don't usually do that, like, ever). 

Along the hayride were little scenes with characters with pumpkin heads from movies/books/etc. Shae's favorites were the Cat in the Hat and Sponge Bob (even though he has never seen Sponge Bob...he has some undies with Sponge Bob on them so he seems to have a special connection).

We were a bit disappointed to arrive and learn that there was not a pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins from. There was an area with lots of pumpkins to choose from but they were way more expensive than I would ever pay for a pumpkin (the ones that Shae is sitting on below were at least $15). We got Shae a little $3 pumpkin so that he could at least have his but decided to get our bigger pumpkins somewhere else that were cheaper. 

Belén was nice enough to sit still for 2 seconds so that I could take this picture.

...and Shae falls apart...

Shae fell asleep as soon as we started driving home, despite the fact that it was almost 6 p.m. We enjoyed a nice quiet drive home (until Belén decided she was just too tried to sleep and lost it). We swung by Little Caesar's Pizza on the way home. Shae woke up right when I got back in the car with the pizza and groggily said, "I hungry." 

It was a pretty perfect afternoon/evening. We didn't really have a clear plan when we left the house. I had ground beef on the counter thawing for dinner, but then plans changed. We went to two farms instead of one. We stayed out much later than planned. We were tired from the fun afternoon...and hungry. So we ate pizza in the car together at almost 7 o'clock at night. It was simple, but special. 

I kind of like this little clan of mine.