Fall is here and the area is brimming with fun activities: festivals, pumpkin patches, craft fairs, haunted houses, hayrides, Halloween parties and more.
For my family, weekends quickly fill up as we try to pack in as much fall fun as we can. Many times we must pick and choose, as activities are often scheduled for the same day. One thing we always agree on, though, is a trip to a pumpkin patch.
Our kids absolutely love pumpkin patches. Visiting one is the highlight of our fall, and by August our 5-year-old is asking, “Are the pumpkins ready yet?”
Not that we go for the pumpkins alone. Sure, they’re fun to carve and decorate with, and the seeds are terrific when seasoned and baked. But it’s the extravaganza that goes along with picking pumpkins that our kids enjoy the most.
We usually go on a Saturday, preferably one that has a slight chill in the air to make a more authentic experience. Obviously this doesn’t always work out--one year we got sunburned at the pumpkin patch. One year a biting wind and cold mist made the experience close to miserable.
We eat a big breakfast at home, to tide us over so we can get by with just a snack or two at the patch. By mid-morning we’re on the road for the 30-minute drive to our favorite pumpkin patch. By the time we get there, the makeshift parking lot – actually a field – is filling up quickly and families are lined up at the entrance.
Once inside, our 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son are raring to go. The playground entices them, and so do the train, fish pond and petting zoo. Over the next several hours we hit all these highlights and more.
We smile as the chickens peck furiously at the grain we toss, laugh at the train conductor’s jokes and watch our kids pedal the tractor tricycles.
We save the hayride to the pumpkin patch for the very end so we can carry our pumpkins straight to the car and head home. Who doesn’t love a hayride? A rumbling tractor and bumpy ride always make us smile.
At the patch, we walk and walk until we find the “perfect” pumpkin we all agree on. Big and round and good for carving are our requirements. Often we get a couple of smaller ones too, for decorations around the house.
I bring my camera, of course, and snap a lot of pictures over the course of the day. I always take a picture of the kids sitting in the patch, a sea of pumpkins in the background. I incorporate the fun scenes from the day into the yearly scrapbooks I make for the kids. The beautiful fall colors and our smiling, happy kids make these pages my favorites to create.
If you haven’t been to a pumpkin patch, make time to visit one this season. You won’t regret it.
Tisha Foley lives with her husband and two children in Belton. In the fall they can be found at local festivals and pumpkin patches.