Pumpkin Patch

For about the past 5 years we've gone to the pumpkin patch every year to pick out our Halloween pumpkins. We love it. This year we went to Young's Jersey Dairy. We came here year before last, when Chloe was in the NICU, and I like it better than the one we visited last year. It was quite the experience with both girls running around enjoying themselves. We all had a fantastic time!

The visit started with the goats.

Solana LOVES petting the animals wherever we go.

I think Chloe will be just like her.

Then we went into the barn to check out the Jersey cows.

I was surprised they let everyone get so close to the milking cows. They only get milked once a day. Surprising because back when I was a cow there was no way I could go all day...

It was a chilly day but the sun was shining and that made for beautiful weather. We bundled the girls up. Chloe's wearing black stretch pants with her Fall-colored leg warmers, scarf knitted by Grammy, and strawberry shortcake hat. The coat is a hand-me-down from Solana. I LOVE that we kept all of Solana's clothes!!! I dread the day Chloe starts complaining about that.

They had a human powered pumpkin launcher. For $5 Dave got to shoot three pumpkins into the field. There was a big dumpster in the middle of the field and he got his first pumpkin right in it! Yay Daddy! He earned us a $5 coupon for lunch at the dairy restaurant. :-)

After Dave had his fun with the cannon we girls had some fun on the train. What am I going to do when Chloe's too big to ride with me? Do you think they'll let me go by myself? Chloe held on to that steering wheel the whole time!

La Familia Hendrickson heading over to the corn maze.

Our driver. There it is!

I'm going to eat you corn!

The girls took off running through the maze. It was pretty long and we probably spent a good half hour in there.

Chloe got a ride from Dave after a while. But she was trying to fall asleep up there so he had to put her down.

That's when she came up to me, "More Back. More Back." I knew exactly what she meant.

We finally made it over to the pumpkin patch. Solana asked if she could pull the wagon. Then little sister insisted on helping by pushing.

Every year we pick three pumpkins. A big one for Dave. A medium one for me, and a small one for Solana. Solana's small pumpkin gets bigger and bigger every year. We have two pumpkins growing in the garden at home. One of those will be Chloe's baby pumpkin.

It was a great day! We were there for about three and a half hours and loved every minute of it. I love this tradition and hope the girls remember it fondly when they get older.