Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, we went to the Pumpkin Patch with our friends Aunt Casey and Stran.  We were hoping to get some really good pictures of the boys.  But Taft is at the age where it is a total fight to get him to smile and "real" smile and give you time to click the photo.  And he was a pretty good distraction for Stran.  But we did manage to get a few, like this one, that I love.  And the boys enjoyed each other the most of all.
Here are a few others:

Sykes and Cooper Farm

On Sunday, we ventured to the pumpkin patch.  My friend Casey let me know about a fairly new one must closer to our house than the one we did last year.  In fact, it was just two exits up.  The Sykes and Cooper Farm in Elkton, FL. 

Taft was very excited.  I am surprised that I was able to get him to sit with the pumpkins for long enough to take a photo.  There were just too many things that he wanted to do.  We looked at the animals first.  He loved the big piggie and the little piggie.  He thought that the goat's were nice but didn't want to smell their poop.  ;0  He didn't seem to into the donkey but I thought that he was cute. 

Then we got on the hayride and took a little trip around the farm and fields of pumpkins, sunflowers, and corn. Lots of corn.

After we got off the hayride, we went to the little store to see the pumpkins, sunflowers, cucumber, gourds, and goodies.  Daddy got some boiled peanuts but was unable to get Taft to eat them.  He did like the "remonade" though.

Taft decided it was time to ride the Tractor Train.  He loves it and rode it more than once.  He also had fun in the little kid zone with a bouncy house, slide, corn pit, and play houses.  We made a quick visit to the chicken coop before we tried out the corn maze. 

I lvoe this picture of Taft in the corn maze.  He was so funny.  At the very begining he wanted to get out but then when he saw more people, he thought that it was fun.  We only did the Phase1 which took about 30 mintues.  By then, Taft was tired, hungry, and ready to go home.


Verdego Pumpkin Patch

First things first, the definition of a pumpkin patch in a coastal town is a little different than other places. We have a bunch of hay on the ground, hay bales and fake scarecrows, and pumpkins. Also - in some of the photos you can see that it is surrounded by palm trees. Something about palm trees and fall just don't seem to go together. Kinda like no matter how many Christmas lights you put on a palm tree they still look stupid. Plus - it is still hot. Almost 90 degrees. Taft was hot after leaving and sucked down three cup fulls of juice to cool off. No flannel shirts here.
The Verdego Plant Nursery is about 2 miles from our house. They have a great selection of plants but it was our first time to visit the pumpkins. All the proceeds go to the school system so that is nice. Large pumpkins $9, Small pumpkins $7. We only bought one. If we need more (last year we each had one) we will travel to Wal*Mart to pick some up.
We thought that Taft would enjoy being able to run around. There is one way in and one way out. It is a very small area and since we went during the day on a weekday, almost no other patch visitors. Very safe for him. He is the type child that does not like sand or grass to touch his skin. He was very unsure about the hay. I, of course, am allergic to hay so I didn't want a lot to do with it either. He stood there without moving for about 10 minutes and then figured out that he could just go. Then he was off. We should have tried family photos before he realized this because he then did not want to be held down at all.

Standing in one place.

The Verdego Advertising Pumpkin

This was his favorite pumpkin. He kept hitting it and went back to it over and over. We did not buy it. It was in pretty bad shape and we needed to get our money's worth. I'm not paying $9 for an non-carving pumpkin.

Another little boy took this pumpkin off the hay bale. Taft saw him and tried his best to put it back.

Not wanting to touch hay.

One of Taft's favorite things to do now is to hide on one side of a chair and play peek-a-boo as we run around the chair trying to catch him. He found that this large hay bale worked great also.