pumpkin patch

it's finally our most favorite time of the year!  

you know how we feel about fall!

last year's pumpkin patch visit 

we just love the fall and we love spending time outside with our boy.  we recently took daxton to the pumpkin patch so that he could ride the choo choo and pick out a pumpkin.  he'd been a bit under the weather, but he made a recovery in time to get in our most looked forward to annual trip to the patch. 

we got dax out of the car and he began saying things like "oh cool", so we figured he was getting excited.  we strolled him through the line and his eyes opened wide with all of the activities going on.  he loves checking everything out and taking it all in.  we first tried to let him play in the corn bin (a giant gazebo full of dried corn kernels) but he was only in there for about 10 seconds before he was removed for breaking the rules and throwing corn.  we moved on.  the train was calling.

we hopped in a short line to wait for the train.  we got to watch it go around one pass and daxton squealed with excitement every time it whizzed by and choo chooed.  he was over the moon when it was our turn to get on.  once he was firmly in his seat he just looked all around in amazement.  when it fired up and started to roll he was in heaven.  he sat quietly with a smile until he'd hear the choo choo and he'd scream out "choo choo"!

after the train ride we all said "bye bye choo choo" and headed over to the hay ride.  daxton was convinced that this was just another version of a choo choo, and so he was in good spirits.  we all boarded the hayride and took the journey over to the pumpkin patch.  dax, again watched all of the sights as we bumped down the trail.  once we got to the patch dax was ready to take off like a little rocket.  we had a hard time keeping up with his unpredictable darting, but luckily there were two of us and only one of him. 

once we wrangled him in we attempted to get a couple of pictures of his sweet face in the pumpkin patch.  he didn't want to be still, so it was a little challenging.  daddy had kettle corn, so we decided to bribe him to sit still for a moment on a pumpkin while we dangled kettle corn at him.  he'd sit still for about 2 seconds and then he'd bounce up (with his mouth still full) like a jack in the box to grab another piece of kettle corn.  this was clearly  not going to work.  so, i just let him run and took pictures of the fun he was having.

we played at the pumpkin patch for about an hour.  dax ran all over checking out all of the pumpkins.  he was drawn to the ones that were greenish, had a large blemish, or were completely rotting out.  boys.  he found one he liked and he could carry, so we let him take that one home.  it's small, a little misshapen, and has green spots.  (i love that he picked that one.)  it looks adorable on the front porch.

after we took the hayride back to the fun park area we let dax play in a hay bale maze, hide in a tee pee, and swing on the swings.  he had loads of fun just getting out all of his energy.  we loved watching his smiling face trying new things and running all over.  when they were about to close we opted to get a family caramel apple and see what he thought about it.  mommy took a bite and then gave dax the option to taste and he turned up his nose.  then daddy and mommy shared some more of the apple and dax decided he may be missing out on something so he decided he would lick it.  he figured that wasn't too bad, so he would take a bite.  his first bite was solid caramel.  he was sold!  we then finished the remainder of the apple together, taking turns taking bites.  i would say dax thought it was pretty delish.  we'll definitely have to put that on the list to try again next year!

we're excited to be taking dax on his first trick-or-treat experience this thursday, celebrating dax's birthday this weekend, then looking forward to thanksgiving at our house with his namaw and poppie, and christmas with my folks in virginia.  it's going to be a busy family fall!