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Monday, October 10, 2011

Let’s call this The Great Pumpkin Patch Fail of 2011

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I know many of you reading are from the country to the south, and are not celebrating Thanksgiving today. But in Canada, we are. Unfortunately, this year, we’re unable to be with our families for Thanksgiving because of Evan’s work commitments. Last year we missed Thanksgiving too, because we had a brand new babe and had to travel the weekend following Thanksgiving so decided to stay home. But, both years, friends who are like family to us took us under their wings and ensured that we would get to celebrate Thanksgiving properly. So we’re looking forward to a feast with all the fixings later today, thanks to the gracious invitation extended to us by Wilma.

Now that the wee babe that entered our life last autumn is now a wee toddler, it’s time to start creating some seasonal traditions and making memories. Of course, heading to the pumpkin patch has to be one of them. This year, we decided we’d try to skip out on the formal pumpkin patch experience and do it at home. There is a field at the very back of the property that, in past years, has been rented out and planted with pumpkins. I figured Evalyn would enjoy this experience just as much as the real deal. And I would save myself a few bucks that could be better spent on pumpkin spice lattes.

We, like many places, have been experiencing weather that is uncharacteristic for this time of year. Basically, it’s summer. Which is nice. Kind of. I’m all for great weather, but at the same time, we love us some fall around here so I kind of feel like we’re missing out. I want to dress her in cute fall clothes. I want to feel the tip of my nose getting rosy when we’re walking outside. I want to drink apple cider and bake pumpkin stuff. But anyway. I digress. I knew the weather man was calling for another roaster today so if I wanted to do the pumpkin patch thing in fall clothing, we’d have to go out in the morning. When the ground is covered in dew. So, I grabbed a blanket to keep her dry. Which I’m sure was a fabulous idea since my child hasn’t stayed in one spot for more than .562 seconds in about five months.

So, there I was at 8:45 this morning, with my child dressed in clothing that was far too warm for the weather, my running shoes on, sweat pants rolled up in hopes of staying somewhat dry. I loaded her up in the stroller with a dolly, my camera, some tissues (hello, runny nose season is back) and a blanket. I was smart enough to take the stroller with me because a) I would need a way to get the pumpkins back, b) I didn’t want her to get soaked and dirty on the way out and c) I didn’t want it to take fifty hours to walk to the back of the property.

2011-10-10 pumpkin fail

We started the trek – which was quite a trek, I might add as my faithful Graco doesn’t do so well on the bumpy terrain – through the orchard to find the pumpkin patch. We were singing. We were chatting. We were pointing to everything we saw and saying “ball”. Along the way, we did find a ball. Or a giant mushroom, rather. Even though I have small’ish feet, the comparison still shows that this guy was a honker. Of course, Evalyn was none too happy when I continued on our journey without letting her touch, hold, smell, or eat this “ball”. (Sidenote: anyone want to guess her favourite word right now?)

2011-10-10 pumpkin fail1

By this point, my feet were soaked. My rolled up sweatpants had come unrolled and were also soaked. I was sweating. Dolly had dropped to the ground multiple times and was covered in dew and grass. But, we were almost there. And it would be so worth it. Because the end result would be amazingly cute photos of my sweet daughter frolicking in the pumpkin patch. Running around to her heart’s delight. Selecting the very best pumpkin to bring home to show Daddy this evening and carve up in time for Halloween.

And then we got there.

And found this.

The “pumpkin patch”.

2011-10-10 pumpkin fail2

Apparently I should have sent the Daddy out ahead of us to scope out the situation. Because “the pumpkin patch” was nothing of the sort. It was more like, the ridiculously unkempt field of some type of creepy crawling plant. See those fines in the top right hand corner of the photo? That is the only evidence that there is, in fact, anything planted in this field. But upon closer inspection, I discovered they weren’t even pumpkins anyway,but some kind of squash.

So, fail.

At least we had fun. Or something.

Any locals know of the best pumpkin patch to visit with a little one?

5 comments:

Erin said...

Oh-em-gee! I can't believe there were no pumpkins after all your planning and treking through morning dew! At least you get an A for effort. Oh and happy Thanksgiving!!

Tricia Walker said...

Puddicombe Farms in Winona is great...don't you remember going there with our class the one year!?!? :) I think Howell's in St. Kitt's is also pretty good...not sure of any prices though sorry :(

Unknown said...

I love summer, but would love the fall temps to start showing their faces soon! What a bummer about the patch :(

Katie @ Loves of Life said...

hehe ;P well, at least Eva looked adorable, right?

Gina said...

Whenever stuff like that happens to me (and it does. Often.) I think, "well, at least this will make for a good blog post!"