Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

It's decorative gourd season, and time for Dorothy's class to head to the pumpkin patch. 

There were a few hiccups in getting there, but we made it on time for the tour.  Unfortunately, when I got the kids dressed this morning, the sun was out and it was suppose to warm up like it did the past couple of days.  By the time we were at the pumpkin patch, Dorothy was way under-dressed.  She was a trouper, and didn't complain though.  At the end, she even took off her her sweater and said she was getting warm.  Somehow, that doesn't seem likely.


First, there was a little movie all about farms in general, and pumpkins specifically.  From there, we went outside to see a few farm animals.

 Checking out the baby chicks.  There were also piglets and rabbits.

 The kids all loved the rabbit run.  There were so many little Dutch rabbits hopping about and one English Spot.

 From the farm animals, we moved on to the exotics area.

 One of the moms was nice enough to purchase food cups for all her daughter's friends.  Dorothy liked feeding the warthog and the kangaroos.  She fed the empty cone to the zebra.

 Then it was time to take a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. 
 See how much warmer the other girls are dressed?  Yep, I messed up.

 Just behind our wagon was a pumpkin shooter.  I'm very curious to see this in action someday.

 In the pumpkin patch, picking her pumpkin.

 She picked a winner!

 They were instructed to only pick a pumpkin that they could carry themselves.  She was determined to find the largest one she could in the patch (they purposefully only let them choose from the patch with small pumpkins).

 After riding back to the farm, they got to pick out two decorative gourds.  Dorothy picks two very bumpy ones.

 Last, they watched the Pumpkin Eating Dinosaur.  She was much braver with her little friends with her than she has been in the past.  She still said it was scary.

 After that, we were free to roam around a bit.  I had promised Dorothy hot cider and apple cider doughnuts, but told her that I'd like a couple of pictures first.

 She willingly posed here, and held still while I took several pictures.

 I even managed one decent close up.

 After our cider and doughnut break, I had a bit less luck with taking cute pictures.

 Running through the hay maze.  There was also a taller fence maze that she did three times in a row.

 She played for a long time in the little kid area where there were several different animals to climb on.

 On our way out, I saw this nice pile of pastel pumpkins and asked her ti sit in front of them.  This was the best I could do, since she was over the whole posing business, and it was past lunchtime.

Walking through the "Cinderella Pumpkins."

I tried to get a cute picture on one, but she was just feeling cheesy.

It was a fun trip to the pumpkin patch, and not crowded today since it was a school day for most kids.  She had a great time hanging out with her friends.