Pumpkin "Farm"

Today we made the trek to the Pumpkin Farm.  And by Pumpkin Farm, I mean Christmas Tree Farm that trucks in boxes of pumpkins to let all the Texans pretend with during the month of October.  And by Christmas Tree Farm, I mean a place that grows some type of Cypress tree that I pretty sure could never hold an ornament.  We wore shorts, my daughter a sundress, because the high today was 89.  They sold snowballs, not hot cider.  Sigh, I miss the Midwest.  But these are the types of experiences that I want for my children, so we made do with what we had.  Fortunately they don't know much better.  Sam has been to a better one, but he was 18 months old and doesn't remember it. 

He enjoyed climbing the pumpkin piles, although I don't think he was really supposed to!  His true love of the day was his little red wagon.  He spotted them the moment we walked in, and it was his precious the entire time.  It took a good bit of negotiating and convincing to get him to leave it by the stroller while we rode on the hayride though the fields of conically-trimmed Cypress bushes Christmas Trees.  He picked out several pumpkins and piled them in, took them out, rearranged them, fit another in.  He pulled the wagon around, parked it, pulled it some more. 

He loved the giant inflatable slide.  This is improvement, as usually I have to climb up these types of things with him.  He went down about 10 times.  He still had no interest in the bounce house.  He only likes those when its just one or two kids (and when does that ever happen?).

Lady A, of course, was along for the ride.  She likes to be outside, so I'm sure she enjoyed herself in spite of the interrupted nap.  She looked awfully cute, and tried to eat the hay.

We came home with three small pumpkins.  That was negotiated down from 5 - 3 because he is 3.  They already have faces drawn on them.  They have been placed on the front step, brought back in, arranged in this room and that.  They are resting in Sam's room for the night.  So much for my fall decor!  He loves them, though, and that's what matters.

So, why so much negotiating with my preschooler you ask?  Because today he woke up at 4:40.  And in spite of Daddy's best efforts, he was up for the day.  So by the time we arrived at 10 am he had already been up for over 5 hours and had a soccer practice.  In an effort to preserve a happy family outing from one meltdown after another, we were choosing our battles.    On the way home, after he woke from a 25 minute power nap, he told us that he was worn out because "I've had a pretty busy day!"