Fall Traditions

HFall is one of my favorite times of the year.  Every time these months roll around we always have a few places that we try to visit to enjoy the season.  Due to a very busy Fall filled with lots of work obligations, wedding events and life, we had to pack pretty much all of our Fall activities into one weekend.

The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur is always on our Fall bucket list.  I've talked about it here and here.  This place has a special memory for JC and I.  It was the place of our first date 10 years ago now.  I had never been to the pumpkin patch before, so I thought it was a fun, unusual date.  We had been talking and hanging out for a couple months before our first date.  This location totally fit us.  We walked around the patch, ventured out into the fields to find a pumpkin, carved the pumpkin at home and had take-out pizza.  Pretty much sums up our relationship then and now.  Super romantic, right?!

This years’ experience at The Great Pumpkin Patch was probably my favorite because Anderson can really enjoy the sights, tastes and sounds.  She had just woken up from a nap before entering the patch.  Our groggy baby took in the patch from the comforts of her wagon for a little while.  Then she decided she wanted to get out and explore.  We walked through the corn maze, checked out all the animals, had some yummy corndogs and pumpkin ice cream and finally picked out four pumpkins; one for all of us to carve, and another for her to carry around.

 

 

After spending a few hours relaxing at home that day Anderson got dressed up in her Halloween costume, a black cat.  This is probably one of the last years I will be able to pick out a Halloween costume for Anderson, so I spent a lot of time thinking about what she should be.  I tried to pick something that represents her, and all the things she likes.  After debate, I decided on the black cat because it was easy, we can use parts of the outfit again, and she loves animals.  Since she’s not a fan of anything on her head, I opted for just a black headband we already had.  I assumed the cat ears would be a battle that wasn’t worth fighting.  Miss A surprised us all though.  When we went out for our annual Boo at the Zoo trip at Scovill Zoo that evening she kept the headband on her head the majority of the night.  I think she was too busy checking out the animals that she loves, the hundreds of people that were at the Zoo and dancing to the jams.

Also included in our Fall extravaganza weekend was pumpkin carving, which Anderson really liked.  We let her help take the “guts” out of the pumpkin out.  Instead of being grossed out by the squishy, smelly stuff she decided to taste it and find pumpkin seeds to put in her mouth (which were quickly taken out by Mom and Dad).  We gave her a spoon and she went to town scooping out the insides, and occasionally tasting what was on her spoon.  The pumpkin insides had already been scooped out, and this job kept her occupied for at least 10 minutes (which is like a lifetime in toddler time).

Our pumpkins didn’t turn out as great as we’d hoped, but we had a wonderful weekend experiencing some of our favorite Fall activities with our favorite little girl.