Backlog: The Pumpkin Patch

About a month ago we hit up the Del Mar Pumpkin Station, which seems to be THE place to hit up in the fall if you have small children. They have tons of pumpkins and also, lots of little-kid-friendly rides. So, one Saturday in October when we didn't have any plans, we got the boys excited about picking out pumpkins and drove up there for the morning.

Admittedly, the tickets for the rides were a little steep ($3 a ticket?? Whaaaaaaat??), but we enjoyed hanging out there for a couple of hours, so I suppose it was worth it.

Of course Johnny wanted to go on the Old El Paso train first thing. It was a little tiny train with a little tiny track and he was so cute sitting there enjoying his ride. Just happy to be hanging out on a train.

Hank, on the other hand, scoped out the bounce house first. Which was a win.

 

Then enter the large inflatable slide. After Johnny finished the train ride, he wanted to go down the slide. There were two: a normal sized one, and a super-sized one. I tried to get him to go on the normal size first, but he wasn’t having it. He wanted to do the big white one. Oooookay! We got let in with the next batch of kids waiting in line with instructions to take off shoes, go down feet first, and leave the area after five slides. So Johnny climbed up.

 

And wouldn’t come down.

I was trying to encourage him to come down the slide, but it just wasn’t happening. Any time someone yelled “You can do it, Johnny!” (other parents had caught on to which child he was and thought they would be helpful) he would move further away from the precipice. So John went to get him.

 And he STILL wouldn't go down the slide. So they came down the stairs.

But he still wanted to go down a slide, so I convinced him to go on the small one. Honestly, though, I don't think he would have gone down this one, either, if Hank hadn't been fearless about the whole thing.

Hank hasn't met a slide he can't conquer.

Johnny finally went down and was a little freaked out, as you can tell by his face.

"Hey, this is actually fun!"

 After our success with the smaller slide, the boys wanted to do the large slide. Hank had no problems going down the full five times.

Johnny, on the other hand, went down once...

 And then I had to go get him. Unlike Daddy, though, I was not willing to move my 8-months-pregnant butt backward down those "stairs" so I dragged Johnny with me down the slide.

 The rest of the rides weren't quite as crazy. Another train ride.

 A spinning swing ride for Hank.

 And a rocket ride for Johnny.

 Then, of course, picking out pumpkins.

Hank picked out this tiny pumpkin and said, "This pumpkin is for Mitch!" I nearly died.

Considering they talked about the pumpkin patch for weeks afterward, I'd say they had a good time.