Pumpkin Day - Part One

Saturday we took the boys pumpkin picking. We were going to do apple picking too, but apparently that ended last week when we first thought about going before deciding to wait until this week. Oh well, now we know for next year. Having grown up in New Jersey, we decided to take the boys to the places we went as kids. Our first stop was the Cider Mill. Unfortunately, due to all the rain this summer/fall, their pumpkin crop was pretty much non-existent.

No matter how much we looked, all we could find were pumpkins that looked like this:

It was not a complete waste of a trip though as we did enjoy some of the world's most delicious apple cider (I may be a bit biased), as well as some tastey donuts.

Not wanting to go home without the pumpkins we went for, we decided to stop at Alstede Farms, pretty much right down the road. While Josh grumbled at first, saying I was a glutton for punishment, it ended up being a great idea, and we had a really good time. Especially since we got to go on a hay ride to the pumpkin field!

As you can probably tell by their faces, the boys were very excited with this, and totally made the trip worth it.

Once we got to the field, it was off to find the perfect pumpkins. Josh took the boys one way and looked for some nice big ones to carve,

while I followed Finn around, picking him up every time he fell down. Which was quite often as by this point he was getting tired. Plus pumpkin patches tend to have bumpy grounds and vines that make it very easy for little ones to trip.

Be that as it may, as the sign below says, we had loads of fun.

To end our afternoon out, while Josh stood on line and paid for the pumpkins, I took the boys to the giant haybale hill thing, so we could climb it and get out any energy the kids might have had left in them by this point.

All in all, a very good day. And for those who read the titles and noticed that this says it's Part One, that's because we carved the pumpkins later that evening, but since that involves more pictures I'm going to save it for tomorrow.

Oh! I also got some gourds. Aren't they cute? I have to admit, I never thought twice about these things until we moved to Germany and I became friends with Joni. Now they're some of my favorite things. Okay, until next time!