A Visit to The Pumpkin Festival

This Monday we headed out to Butler's Orchard for their Pumpkin Festival. By the time Meg woke up from her nap and Matthew finished eating, we only had an hour at the farm before it closed, so we weren't quite sure it would be worth the admission. (Although our kids, being under two, were both free.) But it was great! We got to squeeze in plenty of fun, and Meg enjoyed herself thoroughly. I suspect that going on Columbus Day was much nicer than braving the crowds on a weekend. There were no lines for anything. What a great memory!

First we took a gander at some of the "Barnyard Buddies" whose pens were set around the perimeter of the Festival area. Meg liked the pigs--they not only snorted (a sound she imitates excellently), but frequently sneezed, which cracked her up.


This rooster obligingly crowed for us multiple times, giving Meg the opportunity to hear that, yes, roosters actually do go "er-er-er-er-errrrrrr!"


"And that wraps up tonight's report on goats. Back to you, Katie."


Meg's first moon bounce. And she had it all to herself!


Meg playing with her new (and very temporary) pal Bridget:


Daddy and Meg give the big slide a whirl. Getting ready...


Wheee! Or perhaps not. They petered out a little early this time.


Giving it a second shot--here they come!


All right! Much better! (Meg's not smiling in this picture, but she did like the slide.)


And what she liked even more was the fun tractor that she rode on--just her size!


She had to try the tricycle too...


... and the other kind of tricycle.


Here's one of Matthew and me:


The last thing we did was go on a hay ride. It was so fun and took us past some lovely views--it was also very bumpy! Here's a perfectly dreadful picture Dave took of me as I sat across the wagon from him. Don't ask me what I am doing in this shot--I wasn't even trying to make an ugly face!


The hay ride took us out to pumpkin patch, where you had the option of choosing pumpkins to buy if you wanted. Funny story: at the patch, there was a team from Fox 5 News. The reporter lady climbed into the wagon with us while the camera was rolling--and, low and behold, she spotted me with a tiny baby strapped on my chest. She honed in right away.

Reporter Lady: Oh, look at the teeny, weeny baby! First trip to the pumpkin patch? (She sticks the microphone in my face.)

Me: Definitely.

RL: How old is she?

Me: It's a boy, and he's three weeks old.

RL: (Laughing) Oh, right, is that why he's wearing blue? (Looking at the camera) Wow, that's even younger than your brand new baby, Janet Parker. All right, back to you, Kristin and Mike.

So all this time most of us in the wagon are assuming that they are filming this for the 10:00 news or something, and that the reporter's little comments to the anchors and others in the studio are just in case this segment actually makes it into the broadcast. But as the reporter climbed out of the wagon after she was finished with us, she goes, "Thanks a lot, folks. That was live." Everyone in the wagon gasped and then started laughing. Here we all are, sweaty from the 90 degree weather, with dirt on our jeans and hay stuck in our hair, and we find out we've just been on live television. Beautiful. Well, there goes my 15 minutes of fame.

Purty "punkins" waitin' to be picked:


Daddy and Megger on the ride back.


Megs, just about tuckered out. No wonder! What a fun and busy afternoon!