Our 1st pumpkin patch trip

A year ago, I remember being jealous of all the pictures other Twitter users were posting of their kids at the pumpkin patch. I actually didn't know much about pumpkin patches at all. Are they just pumpkin farms? I wanted to go last year but Tristan was not walking yet. I thought it would be more fun and less dirty if he was walking. Then he started to walk but pumpkin season was close to an end and I said I could wait until next year.

This past weekend, the weather was marvelous! It couldn't have been nicer for mid October. On Saturday, we went to the Laity Pumpkin Patch in Maple Ridge. My parents were visiting and so we brought them along. I remember thinking it was silly of me to be upset when I learned that Tristan would miss the pumpkin patch trip with daycare. Daycare had their pumpkin patch trip last Thursday and it rained for them. Not that the kids would mind the rain but I think pictures would turn out better with blue skies and there would be less of a mess to clean up for the adults. Sadly for them, the weather has been nothing but sun and clouds most of the time since that Thursday.

We had a great time. There were a ton of things kids could do and so many picture taking opportunities. The petting zoo was cool for Tristan to visit and he had fun dragging pumpkins and pushing wheel barrels around. The cartoon forest was entertaining and such a great idea! The hayride was a bit silly since it only went around in a circle but hey, at least we got to ride on something :)

Admission was $3 for anyone over 2 years old. We ended up staying for 2 1/2 hours and we bought one big pumpkin and one small one, which costed us $7. They were also selling corn stalks for $1 each and I thought about buying some for decorating but ending up not getting any. We took a ton of pictures but most of them were just ok. Tristan was always on the run and it was hard to get him to stand still or sit still for pictures. We would try and try and then we would just give up because it was no fun for anyone. I think next year when he will be almost 3 years old, he will be more cooperative and allow us to take more pictures of him. Having said that, we did end up with a couple of good shots of him but none of the ones of the three of us turned out good :( I'm still looking for that terrific family picture of us!

The pumpkin patch trip is going to be an annual trip for us. Tristan loved it and we love taking pictures. There is just something about putting a small child in front of a bunch of pumpkins that is so adorable. The orange pumpkins, green vegetation, blue skies, mountains in the background, etc. are the perfect ingredients for a great autumn picture :)