The Hargrave Clan: Harvesting a Pumpkin

Today I found six ping-pong balls and a flash drive in our television speaker. And that's all I've got to say on the subject.

Matt and I always intended to grow pumpkins in our garden, but we somehow just never got around to it. And now it's October. Dang. Maybe next year. It was kind of a good thing though, because a few weeks ago a friend of ours invited us to go with her to Sweet Berry Farms, a pumpkin patch she found in Marble Falls (about an hour's drive both ways). Pretty soon a bunch of other friends found out about it too, and we all went together in one great big group of six adults and eight kids.

It was awesome, to say the least. I happen to be a huge fan of Fall, so this place was super fun and exciting for me. Bennett loved it, too. I forgot to bring his stroller and was worried at first that he might get tired and not want to walk after awhile, but I guess his little boy legs are getting stronger because he kept up pretty well on his own. I only carried him a few times over the course of four hours, which was good, because since I forgot the stroller I was the pack horse for our lunches, diaper bag, and sweatshirts. Argh.

Anyway, here's a bunch of pictures from the day that I will narrate as I get to them. Oh, and just as a side note, Bennett was pretty focused on the experience as a whole and not focused at all on looking at the camera or being photogenic whatsoever. Most of my pictures from this day are of the back of his head. Sorry.

Here we are picking out my pumpkin. We looked and looked and finally found the perfect pumpkin in a bin marked "defects." It is probably the ugliest little pumpkin I have ever seen in my life, and I love it with all my heart. It will be a beauty to carve in a couple of weeks.

Looking for Bennett's pumpkin was much easier, as he immediately developed a strong relationship with this little guy. I seriously could not get him to put it down. So we we bought it. (Did I mention this place was super cheap? It was great.) I don't really know how we are going to carve it yet because it is so small, but I'm sure we will find a way.

This place was an honest-to-goodness pumpkin patch, besides the fact that the pumpkins were pre-picked and in piles for easy shopping. Behind Bennett is the field where they are already growing their next harvest. Pretty cool. I did, however, have to stop Bennett from running through the sprinklers and mud a few times. This child is genetically drawn to mud.

A very cute Bennett Scarecrow

An extremely attractive Mommy Scarecrow

Harvesting our pumpkins. (Do you see all the people behind Bennett in this picture? This place was pretty dang busy. Who could have guessed that a pumpkin patch would be so popular in the middle of October?)

Like any good pumpkin patch, Sweet Berry Farms had goats you could pet. I will never understand goats. They are a mystery to me...

There were actually two sections of this farm, one on each side of the road. This is the tunnel you had to walk through to get to the other side. I think Bennett could have spent all day just running back and forth through here.

On the other side of the farm there were huge flower fields where you could pick your own Fall bouquets. It was so pretty! I really do just love the Fall. And I love this picture, which looks like it could be on a cheesy Mother's Day card.

And you can't have Fall without a good, old-fashioned hayride. This is me and Bennett on the hayride (aka: tractor pulling a trailer with some hay bales on it.) The ride went through "Scarecrow Island" where different scarecrows were staged doing various activities. I think Bennett liked the tractor part, but I was obviously more excited about the whole experience than he was.

Watching other people on the "hayride."

The last thing we did before we went home was a corn maze. They actually had a couple of different mazes, each at a more advanced level than the last. We opted to do the "Kiddy Maze" thinking it would be a nice, easy walk through...

Wrong. The look on Bennett's face says it all. We were lost in that thing for like, half an hour. I have a terrible sense of direction, and my 18-month old son wasn't offering much help. Where is my GPS when I need it?

I am a little ashamed to admit it, but we finally resorted to cheating our way out. Luckily, right before we were about to send up a flair, a little boy who was probably still in pre-school told us the way to go. One day I hope to be as smart as that four-year old.