Pumpkin Patch

We love the Big Red Barn.  It is one of the highlights of our fall.  This year was even more fun because Sarah was old enough that we took her out into the pumpkin fields instead of just picking from one of the many pre-picked pumpkins!

 

Look how beautiful this place is.  How could we NOT enjoy our day?!

 

***This is the end of my free advertising for Big Red Barn!***

Sarah started her morning by pitching a huge fit and demanding a sucker.  Being the good parents we are, we said, "No" and then went back and bought it for her so she would shut up and enjoy some quality family time already.  *Sigh*  Parent of the Year Award recipients, right?

At any rate, it only took a few licks for her to pull it together and start to have some fun!

 

Nothing like a very vocal turkey (or three) to distract a girl and get her excited about being at the farm!  Sarah just giggled and giggled at this silly turkey, who was doing his very best to impress everyone in a 5-mile-radius with his gobbling skills....

 

We eventually moved from turkeys to goats.  When we got to the goat house, they were all inside and Sarah was a little bummed.  Luckily, Daddy had some quarters in his pocket, so he got some goat food for Sarah to use to entice the goats out of their house.  It worked!

 

 

 

Next on the list of things I wanted to accomplish was a photo of Sarah and her daddy.  Every year we've taken the same photo, and it's fun to see how she's grown!

 

 She was a little grouchy about sitting still for a picture this year, so this is the best we got:

  

 

Here is last year's photo:

 

And here's the photo from our first trip to Big Red Barn!

 

Next we participated in another annual tradition - climbing and jumping from the hay bale!  This year's hay bale was a little pathetic, but Sarah didn't seem to mind at all...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots and lots of jumping later, Sarah decided that she wanted to ride the horses.  Luckily, she settled for riding the pretend horses and not the real ones.

 

 

Her daddy still took her to visit the real horses, though, and Sarah was all over it!

 

 

 

While we were there, a nice lady offered to take our family photo.  Sarah, sensing Mommy's joy at this rare opportunity, immediately threw herself against me and refused to pick up her head.  Oh the well.  At least this photo is not indicative of the fun that we actually had!

 

 

Since we had visited all the animals, Sarah decided that it was finally time to check out the pumpkin selection!  She started with the gourds, which was a little problematic because Sarah is really into matching right now.  She kept trying to take the gourds out of their containers and match the "baby pumpkins" to the "mommy and daddy pumpkins" nearby...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we convinced her that all the gourds and pumpkins were exactly where they needed to be, she ran wild through the rows and rows of pre-picked pumpkins on display!

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes you have to stop to catch your breath!

 

 

And she's off again...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She finally stood still long enough for me to get a really good pumpkin photo...

 

 

...and then she noticed that there were rocks on the ground.  I guess those are far more interesting than boring old pumpkins!

 

 

Thankfully, she has a very short attention span and was completely distracted by the hayrides nearby! 

 

 

 

Daddy went to get tickets, and we headed down the hill to hop on the hayride out to the pumpkin patch.

 

 

We had to wait a while for the tractor to arrive, but Sarah quickly spotted a way to stay busy - running through the event space the Big Red Barn uses for weddings.  Look, Daddy!  There it is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually, the tractor showed up and Sarah got to go on her first hayride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we knew it, we were at the pumpkin fields!

  

 

Sarah was off on a quest to find the perfect pumpkin.  She would run over to one and say, "This one is my favorite."  And then she would run to a different one and say, "This one is my really favorite!"

 

 

 

 

 

Walking through all those vines requires some fancy footwork...

 

And then she found it - her FAVORITE pumpkin!

Whew!  Picking a...um...pumpkin is really hard work! 



 

With the perfect pumpkin in hand, we grabbed some apple doughnuts and an apple cider slushy and headed home for the day.  Thanks for another year of memories, Big Red Barn!  We'll see you next year...