Pumpkin Patch, Round 2: The Tradition Lives On

Earlier this week Lucy and I joined my mom, grandparents, some of my aunts, uncles and cousins for what has been a long-standing tradition of an annual visit to the pumpkin patch.  We were trying to remember when this venture actually began, and decided that it has been at least 25+ years; very cool, indeed.  And this trip lived up to the expectations!  The patch had an incredible number of pumpkins this year and it was warm and windy - just the way it is supposed to be!

Lucy's highlights would include: chickens, cows, tractors, a combine, the sugary snacks my grandma made and keeping track of everyone in my family when they went out of her sight ("Where's Anthony?" "Where's Grandpa Tom?"); my uncle Brett, especially!

I should mention that the purchase of our pumpkins is a treat from my grandparents every year; they have kept track of the total combined weight of all our pumpkins each year and this year we hovered around 165 lbs. which is good but certainly not our best; my grandpa reminded me that one year we were well over 200 lbs.!  The only rule when picking your pumpkin is this: you can have AAAAANNNNNNYYYYY pumpkin you want; as long as you can carry it back to the tractor yourself.  And I will publicly out my grandpa right here because I have witnessed and know for a fact he has carried several pumpkins half his weight just because one of us wanted it.  He loves us and this tradition that much. 

MOST of the crew; we didn't all make the picture. 

Here's the link to view where this kiddo measured up just a year ago: 2011 Pumpkin Patch Experience.

Right.  My cousin Molly stepped up to the plate and we said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Molly is almost six feet tall?!"  And then realized that the first six inches of the first foot on this ruler are probably more like three inches.  Which is great and made us all feel really good about our short legs.  Ok, maybe just my mom and me. 

Off to the patch!

I'm so easy.  There are few things in life that make me happier than watching my grandmother and my daughter stroll hand in hand with silos and cows in the background.  I'm a born and raised midwestern sap.  No question.

Waiting for the tractor to come by again. 

The adorable pumpkin rice-krispie treats courtesy of my grandma.  They were as good as they look.

Trying to get Lucy's attention for a picture of us.

So, she obliged and I screwed it up!  Oh well...

Our loot once we got it back home.  Can you guess which one is mine and which is Lucy's?

   

Pumpkin Patch, Round 1

The Toner's invited us to join them on a pumpkin patch adventure south of town; it was a beautiful day outside and we very much enjoyed the warm fall weather!  Lucy and Grace ran around in the pumpkin patch (with surprisingly little interest in actually picking out pumpkins), played in a house made of hay bales, ate more than enough s'mores, enjoyed the hayrack rides and generally had a great time. 

Kristen got fancy and made ghost and pumpkin sandwiches for the girls!

A shovel, dirt and a s'more.  Life is good. 

Omaha

Or Oma-haha! as I've been teaching Lucy.  But it's starting to stick, so I should probably back off.  Anyway, what in the world were we doing in Omaha(ha!) you ask?  Why, a mini family vacation planned around attractions for the one and only Lucy, of course!

KU had a bye-week (hold on to your hats, there was an entire weekend we were not held hostage by our football team's home game schedule!) so we decided to hop in the car and head to the Omaha Childrens Museum and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium!  It was a great little trip that made us feel like we really got away from home and got to take part in some fun activities not normally at our fingertips.

The Childrens Museum is great; it is in the top 15% of children's museums nationally and features pretty much every scenario a kid would love: toy tractors and firetrucks you can drive (stationary, thank god), an entire room devoted to arts and crafts - paint, playdough, markers, crayons, you name it, a grocery store with shopping carts and shelves stocked with all kinds of food plus a check out area, play houses, a science and technology center (colorful balls flying everywhere is how I would describe this area), an indoor playground, a "splish splash garden" and more.  It is cleverly designed and could keep kids entertained for hours.

It terrifies me how much this kid is into driving...

It makes her SO happy; she frequently does this at home in both of our parked cars...as soon as we pull in the driveway we immediately hear, "I drive.  I drive." 

 

 



 

Her loot from two different trips to the store.  It was so interesting to watch her do this; she would start with several items in her cart, most of which would normally NOT be found on the perimeter of the store, but then for some reason she would change her mind, put items back and her cart would end up looking like this, all fruits and veggies.  Kids are fascinating.    





Whoa.  Redirect.  Must stay in the grocery area, kid, and I don't believe you have paid for those items...

At one point, she took her produce over to the "splish splash garden" to wash her fruits and veggies.  I could hardly stop laughing because it was definitely the right thing to do, to wash those fruits and veggies, but we asked her to please remove the cucumbers and tomatoes from the water and return them to the store. 

The "flying balls" room.  This was just one wall of the room; this stuff really is science at its best; for adults AND kids. 

 

 

 

We'll go ahead and pretend that THIS picture below is an indication of how much Lucy cooperated at dinner. We're pretending really hard.

 

 

Ohhhhh to be a kid staying in a hotel.  You can run around in mom's flip-flops wearing only a diaper.  Drink chocolate milk in bed with your animal crackers because "vacation mom" doesn't care if you make a mess.  You can flush the toilet non-stop without being asked to stop.  You can jump on the bed and throw yourself into a pile of pillows.  And you get to shower like a big girl (with some help from dad). 

 

Nevermind that Mom and Dad were kept awake by the marching band (ok, whatever it was) stomping up and down the hall all night...

 

 
 And the next day, we were off to the zoo!

 

 

 

 

I know, I know.  It's his butt.  But we were standing in this little bubble and all of a sudden he was RIGHT THERE; Lucy was so excited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped to take a break at this picnic table because we knew Lucy's attention span was wearing thin, she was getting hungry and naptime was approaching....

 

And then, because I like to throw all reason out the window when I know we should call it quits and because selfishly I LOVE aquariums, we decided to stop by and check out the sea life on our way out of the zoo.  And I'm so glad we did because Lucy loved it!  Suddenly she wasn't tired, hungry, or cranky but very much loving the pengiuns, crabs, fish, etc.

 

 

 

She was so into this particular exhibit that she decided to get comfortable.