Pumpkin Patch with Miss Sarah

After rain and something else stopped us from going to the pumpkin patch the last few years, this year we were raring to go. I didn’t tell the kids where we were going, which Jory reprimanded me for. Danger Ranger had informed him that you should always know where you’re going. I explained they weren’t talking about parents.

The kids were very excited when I told them we were going to see Miss Sarah. Yes, we drove to the faraway land of Santa Clarita aka the other side of the universe to go to the pumpkin patch with Miss Sarah. After our last visit, I made sure to bring plenty of ones because I discovered this pumpkin patch and a lot of kid friendly places are like kiddie strip joints. You have to bring ones and fives to make it rain. I mean when one carmel apple is $3, you need to bring some serious cash.

We find a park quickly and in we went. It was hotter than a bangee. We should have worn shorts. Somewhere from the dusty parking lot to the pumpkin patch, the baby decided she couldn’t walk.

I don’t deal with heat well, but heat, being overdressed, holding a purse, and a baby.

“Mommy, there’s a baby,” she pointed out.

“Yes, there is a baby. Are you a baby?” I asked.

“No, I a big girl,” she answered.

“You know what big girls do?”

She shook her head.

“They use their two little feet and walk. Doesn’t the big girl want to walk?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because…”

And that was seemingly the end of that. Really, she just gets away with murder. We walked around, heard a band, walked through the maze and saw scarecrows designed by various schools and organizations. Some of them were weird, some were odd, none were scary. The baby refused to take a picture. She said the scarecrows scared her. Really, the scarecrow who looked like Elmo scares you?! Whatever. There was even one with two normal characters like, Elmo and Big Bird, and then next to them was Jason from Friday the Thirteenth. Super odd. I had to ask Sarah to make sure I wasn’t imagining the combo.

We went to the “farm.” They had an ostrich and a huge ostrich egg. We saw a rabbit, roosters, pigs, a calf, and some other simple animals.

“Mommy, it smells over here. Can we leave?” Jory asked.

Ah, a boy after my own heart. I love that kid.

So we wondered away from the farm and somehow ended up where the horse and donkey or mule was. And I take a seat after unsuccessfully trying to convince my kids to put their heads through so I could take pictures of them as farmers; and the next thing I know my kids are feeding the horse and donkey. Yuck! Miss Sarah was supervising, thank God for her. I couldn’t deal with that. I finally I had to pull them away from the feeding or we would have been there all day. Our first stop afterwards was to the porta-potty world where they had a sink and soap.

We bought tickets for the train ride which Jory wanted to go on more than the carriage/hay ride. Strangely enough the carriage/hay ride was more expensive. We went on the train ride and sat in our own car. We saw the mountains which in a few months would soon be covered in snow. We saw the corn maze and the whole pumpkin patch. We came back down and I finally relented and bought something for everyone to enjoy, nachos. They weren’t that big of a hit. Note to self, don’t buy nachos with cheese next time. They looked delicious, but I couldn’t have any.

Instead they munched on the fruit we had, the water, and the Chicago styled popcorn I had left over from work. We listened to the band play as Jory ventured into the haystack maze. After seeing him do it, Rowan followed him. And after a million potty breaks (is this baby’s bladder the size of a ganat?) with the baby, she decided to follow her siblings. Sarah and I took the time to chat, to enjoy the music. After a while the kids came back and Jory showed them how to jump from one bale of hay to the next. Big brothers teach the most awesomest of things.

We wandered through the fruit and vegetable stand. Jory was dying for a pumpkin so I told him he could get one with the dollar I had left over from the nachos. He perused the pumpkins in the basket and found one for seventy-five cents. Then he asked if he could carve it. Uh, yeah, dude, you can’t carve a pumpkin that small.

He wiped off his pumpkin with a wipe as soon as we got in the car. Then the girls wanted to do the same, then the arguments started on who got to hold the pumpkin. So I made the executive decision that everyone could hold it for five minutes. I learned that tip from a magazine once and usually lose interest very quickly when a time is put on it or forget. Jory didn’t forget. Granted, the baby did end up holding the pumpkin for 10 minutes because we all forgot, but he finally did remember and they had to switch. But when he held it, we all forgot for the rest of the evening.

We went back to Sarah’s house and as always she was a gracious hostess. She had dinner in the crock pots. She had toys out in the living room. She’s so awesome and loving. God’s got a good servant in her. The kids ate until their bellies were full, then she came out with two types of cookies. The kids were besides themselves. Well, it was a toss up between the various cookies and finding the miniature broom and dust pan. Each of the kids had a turn to sweep her kitchen floor.

Finally it was time to leave, she walked us out to the car and watched us load in. I always enjoy our time together. She’s so patient and kind, gently when she reprimands and distracts. Why isn’t she married already? Some guy doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.

I need to up the times we see Sarah. Because she lives on the other side of the moon, we see her once in the summer to go to the beach with us. Last year, we added seeing her once in the late winter, so she could take the kids hiking. Jory asked to go hiking last year and my first thought was let me email Miss Sarah. We see her for our traditional pumpkin patch visit. Now I think we need to make a trek to the snow and I think Sarah needs to come with us.