Our Very Own Lil' Pumpkin Patch

I know what you are thinking - after a highly stimulating Friday, I would take advantage of the good fortune of little girls sleeping late Saturday morning and have a peaceful, low-key, relaxing around the house kind of day. Nope. Not us. That would be way too sensible.

After washing the fair stink off the girls with a morning bath, I dressed them in their Halloween shirts and we headed to the pumpkin patch for more pumpkins!

A friend told me about Belinda's Pumpkins & Gourds last year. After our trip last year I knew it would become an annual tradition. Unfortunately Belinda's pumpkin patch seemed to have been hurt by the stormy summer like so many other farms (see "The Great Pumpkin Shortage"). While the pick of the pumpkins might not have been quite as great as last year, we still came home with several awesome pumpkins for carving (and a few gourds which my girls are obsessed with this year). Did I mention the pumpkins from Belinda's are not only beautiful pumpkins but the most affordable pumpkins I've ever come across? If you live in the triangle area of NC I'm telling you it is worth the drive!

The mums were also beautiful. I spent all the cash I had on me Saturday on pumpkins but I'm thinking I may have to make a quick trip back out to Belinda's one morning this week and get one or two mums for my front porch.

After loading up our pumpkins I took the girls to McDonald's for lunch. McDonald's Happy Meals are in Halloween buckets right now. They did this last year too but when we finally made it to McDonald's in October, they had sold out of buckets. The girls and even myself were disappointed. So when I saw the buckets were back I decided I would make sure I took the girls sooner rather than later so we wouldn't miss out again. Would it be the end of the world or the biggest disappointment ever if they did not get a bucket again this year? Of course not, but I had promised them a special lunch to McDonald's soon anyway so why not.

With all of our pumpkins we have our own mini-pumpkin patch!

This was actually our second trip to a pumpkin patch this year. Gabrielle turned the big 5 in September and we were able to throw her the big birthday bash we've talked about since she was born. We live about five minutes from Hill Ridge Farms. While this place can get really crowded and crazy busy this time of year, we always have so much fun. We have made a family trip to Hill Ridge every fall since having Gabrielle (with exception of last year - Ed's work schedule just didn't allow for it and I didn't like the idea of taking the girls without him). We were blessed that all of our family, our closest friends, and Gabrielle's best buds were all able to attend the party. It was a day of hay rides, train rides, pumpkins, Chick-fil-A lunch (yummy!), and giant slides - and much more! It seemed like everyone had a lot of fun and  Gabrielle (and her mommy & daddy) were full of smiles that day.

 

Gabrielle's "How Tall This Fall?" photos - fun to look at and see just how much she has grown and changed each year.

I guess Samantha's "How Tall This Fall?" photos will start with this year at age 2 (the photo is part of the birthday collage above). Here is a photo collage of her very first Hill Ridge trip. 

It's also fun to compare birthday photos and Hill Ridge photos from each year to see all the different weather scenarios typical, yet unpredictable, NC weather has been. We've been to Hill Ridge when it was hot and didn't feel like fall at all, when it was freezing cold and felt like full on winter and even once when it was what fall should be.