We decided to take advantage of the warm weather and get pumpkins last weekend. Even though she'll never remember it, we wanted Allison's first trip to be special, so we drove out of town to a farm that offers hay rides to a patch where you can pick your own.
When we got there, it was closed. On a Sunday. Three weeks before Halloween.
PRIME TIME TO GET A PUMPKIN, PEOPLE.
Jerry quietly turned the car around, and I noticed his knuckles were turning a subtle shade of white while clenched around the steering wheel.
"Screw them and their crappy hay rides," I said. "Who wants to sit on that scratchy crap anyway?"
"Shh ... I'm counting to 50," Jerry said with a hint of a smirk.
"Because 10 isn't high enough?" I asked.
"Yes."
But despite the setback, central Pennsylvania is full of farms. Pumpkin and otherwise. We knew of at least three others to try and the drive on the winding back roads was kind of nice -- especially with all of the fall colors.
"We're leaf peeping," I said. "I bet people in other parts of the country would kill to see entire mountains covered in color like this."
Fortunately, the second farm we tried was open and full of people. Probably the same ones who would've been on our hay ride if the other place had been open, but who's counting?
The mums were amazing.
I asked Jerry whether I should get two of the small ones or one of
the big ones. His response: "Do you want to kill one plant or two?"
The first pumpkins Alli looked at were too big.
These were too small.
Then she found two that were just right.
And she refused to let go.
"Um, excuse me? Dad? Where are my pumpkins?"
"Got em!"
Although, a little hard to crawl and carry at the same time.
"This is hard."
"AW! Who farted?"
Yeah, I'm so mature. But we had a great time. And even better? It's been a week and our flowers aren't even dead yet. Probably because I walked out to get the mail a few days ago while I had a glass of water in my hand and I decided to dump the rest on them.
They must thrive on good intentions.
26 comments:
You totally made up for not posting with those CUTE pics of Alli and pumpkins! Tooooo cute!
that last pic is classic.
"I bet people in other parts of the country would kill to see entire mountains covered in color like this."
Yep. You read my mind. I feel the jealousy seeping through my skin just reading this & seeing the pictures! We haven't made an Autumn trip in 3 years & it's killing me - Florida does not believe in leaf changing or cool weather.
BTW - LOVE Allison's outfit!
I am from Texas and I went to visit my sis-in-law last year in October in St. Louis.
I found myself furiously texting my parents "I DIDNT KNOW LEAVES ACTUALLY CHANGED COLORS LIKE THIS!!!!"
And took over 100 pictures of leaves alone.
So yes, it's true.
Love the pics of Allison!
I LOVE the expression on her face in the last two pictures.
It reminds me of this face Katy makes; we say "where's your duck-face??" and she'll purse her lips and poke them out reeeeaalllly far, wrinkle up her nose and 'pant' really quickly out her nose. That's what Alli's expression reminded me of.
A lot of people but the photos were worth it! Those mums are gorgeous!
I love her hat!!
Yea, I killed a small mum plant. I felt kind of bad. Poor thing. It never stood a chance.
You can tell a story as well with pictures as you paint them with words alone! Cool photos that Alli will treasure.
Some of the "Dutch" farms here (in NJ) are always closed on Sundays as well, big business potential or not as they hold true to their beliefs.
Did not grow any pumpkins this year either and have to get mine this weekend before they are all gone!
Adorable pictures! And yes, you CAN plant your mums and they will come back every year too. That way you'll have a nice yearly reminder of Alli's first pumpkin patch trip.
It's best to get them in the ground before they start dropping all their blooms, so you probably have another week or so to decide. Just remember, they can get kinda big through the years so give them some space to grow.
So many times I forget how lucky we are to have the leaves turn colors and that other's don't see that happen every year. I'm so used to it that I'm often found grumbling about having to rake them or fish them out of my pool. But even then, I appreciate the real pretty ones.
In the annoying spirit of "your story is good, but mine is better," my boyfriend and I drove from Easton, MD to Busch Gardens Williamsburg only to be turned away at the gate with a small, anti-climactic "We're closed" sign. That's a 4 hour drive!!! To add insult to injury, we took a van full of kids on a 3 hour trek to something called MaizeQuest in PA, only to be told upon arrival that, you guessd it, CLOSED!! UGH Like you, we made the best of it. (But we're still counting....)
I have the same hat. My mom got it for me from a crafty store in Northern PA. I were it every year on Halloween.
P.S. Allison is just too cute for words.
those are lovely pictures, do you mind telling what kind of camera you use? i'm shopping for one right now and i love that your pictures look like they're from a movie. meaning that they aren't shiny looking, like matte. oh, i don't know how to explain it.
Aww, such cute photos were worth the wait. Sounds like you made pie out of squashed pumpkins. :D
Also, I can't believe people still make comments that are necessary to delete. How rude. Psh. They can just deal with you and your super adorable family.
I would be in that part of the country that never sees the beautiful fall colors... =) The pics are awesome!
so cute! :)
The pumpkin hat is awesome! I have got to get my mom to knit me one of those!!!
Adorable pictures. And the mums are beautiful!! And even I'm a little jealous of the leaf changing out there. And I'm from Ohio. That windstorm we had after hurricane Ike made most of the leaves around here turn a strange brown color. So enjoy those beautiful leaves!! I miss my fall this year : (
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how amazing that pumpkin hat is. I'm pretty jealous of that too!
My and my cousin were just talking the other day about going to a farm to pick a pumpkin or apple picking. My dad told me long ago that in some of the farms, they'll make you an apple pie with the apples that you pick. How much better could it get?
Looks like you guys had a great time. I hope to do something like that one day. And those are such awesome photos (you have a great camera). That first photo is precious. Allison's ensemble was too adorable! That pumpkin hat rocks!
Take, care Kelly.
P.S. Allison's expression in that last photo = PRICELESS! ;o)
^^OOOPS, I posted anonymous by mistake! ;o)
What great photos!! Love Alli's hat, she looks so cute! It looks like you guys had a fun time.
Take care, *g
Oh, how's Toby feeling? Better, I hope.
:o)
awww!
adorable as hell.
=]]
-KrIsTiN-
I HEART my camera. I use a Nikon D-40. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Nice photos.
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