Pumpkin Patch Perfection

If you walk into any scrapbooking store across America you are bound to find a sample layout hung on the wall with an adorable chubby cheeked baby sitting in a sea of pumpkins at a farm or pumpkin patch. I believe I was about 20 the first time I saw one of these layouts and ever since, I've dreamt of one day having adorable pictures of my own babies, and family memories that are even more perfect than the pictures. Judging by my pictures, my track record is not so good. But I have to admit, each year it is getting better.

2007 - Aidan is clearly thrilled to be there.

2008 - Aidan attempting to eat dry Indian Corn....okay, that one is pretty cute.

2008- Everyone doing their best to NOT sit down for a picture.

This year the boys were a little older and showing some excitement about the idea of going to the pumpkin patch. We decided that this was the year that we would skip the little roadside make-shift "pumpkin patch" and instead, take them to the real deal, pumpkin patch and farm that sat on acreage and charged admission. My Aunt and Grandmother were in town for my birthday, so they were able to join in the festivities as well.

We pulled into the dirt "parking lot" and erected our bus of a stroller and off we went.

Upon entering there was a little cage with baby chicks FOR SALE. Aidan was captivated. He lovvved those baby chicks. Seriously, can you imagine actually bringing one of those things home to your cookie cutter, cinder block wall, master planned community. Something tells me there would be a homeless rooster on the loose in no time.

We started off by visiting the farm animals. We saw a bunch of fat porkers eating raw pumpkins, a coup full of turkeys, and finally a big yard full of goats, sheep and a cow. Luca had honing his farm animal noises. He was particularly proud of his "Moooooo". However, once he saw the cow, he was dumbfounded. We tried to get him to moo at the cow, but to no avail.

Real live cows are a lot bigger than the cow on his See n Say.

Next we went on a hay ride.

It was a little noisy for Aidan, but Miles and Luca loved it. Miles loved it so much in fact, that he told the tractor, "Thank you tractor for my ride" when we were done. I even had to stop him from running up to hug the tractor. After we dusted ourselves off, we headed over to the mini pumpkin patch. Each boy picked out their own pint sized pumpkin to decorate with stickers.

The pumpkin decorating was, but not nearly fun enough for Luca. He took off every chance he could. He even found a second pumpkin. It had to be the world's teeniest tiniest pumpkin. It was just Luca's size. He loved that pumpkin.

He carried it in his little hand for the rest of the day. We let the boys run and play after they were done with their pumpkins.

Before we left, we visited the big pumpkin patch. Aidan instantly dove into the sea of pumpkins, as if pumpkin surfing was a national pastime. Miles had a ball climbing the bails of hay. We took a few pictures and let each boy pick out a squash to bring home and cook for dinner. The boys had so much fun, that no one wanted to go home. Miles was so determined to stay that he ran down the pumpkin patch at full force and joined another family.

It was everything I had ever hoped it would be.

It was an adorable page out of a scrapbook.

It was pumpkin patch perfection.