October brings our annual trip to Bengston's Farm (warning! midi on site!).

Much warmer than last year. We skipped the pig races and concentrated on the important things: kettle corn, feeding carrots to baby llamas, and getting the perfect pumpkin for the evil mutant squirrels to demolish to decorate.

So we headed down the hill away to the field of pumpkins and let Bear loose. Off he ran. And ran. And ran. The boy inspected only eleventy bagazillion pumkins. If it was orange, he was considering it.

He found a big one after about 10 minutes that made him grin. We grinned back and thought ourselves lucky. No. No. No. The limpid pools of blue (so recently ill and sad) batted at us, pleading. Bat, bat. Plead, plead.

"Can I have two pumpkins this year? One big and one small?" Bat, bat, bat.

With a sigh, I nodded. CD clearly mouthed the word 'sucker' at me over Bear's head. Meanwhile, our son did his ricochet rabbit pumpkin hunting act for a solid 4 or 5 acres of pumkins.

Finally, a lovely smaller pumpkin was found. Clearly, it met some kind of secret Bear criteria. I nodded, tiredly, and we marched down the hill with it to join CD.

"Wait!" Bear pleaded as the tractor came to take us back up to the checkout. "There is THREE people in the family. We need THREE pumpkins!"

Seeing my weakness for my son's eyes, CD firmly jumped between us. Super-Dad! With hands on hips and a granite expression. "TWO Pumpkins is all we're getting!"

Yeah, we're such badass parents.

Although he seemed melancholy on the ride, it turned out he was just tired.

By the time we pulled out of the parking lot, Bear was out cold (and snoring just a little). His hand in mine in the backseat. A few minutes later, I was too. Happiness, blue skies, and pumpkin hunting turns out to be a recipe for a long nap.

And all I could think as I slipped into sleep is "this is how the days should be".

Posted by: Elizabeth at 03:53 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Our WS (wonderful son) has to have three as well: a big Daddy pumpkin, medium Mama, and smaller WS! It is my favorite time of year when we do the hay ride and drink hot cider, get lost in a corn maize, pick our pumpkin family.... It's been raining lots here, so we haven't even gone yet! 8-(

Posted by: Trish at October 10, 2005 04:57 AM (POAga)

2 Awww...what a beautiful family afternoon!

Posted by: Grace at October 10, 2005 05:26 AM (L058b)

3 Two years ago, we ended up with 8 pumpkins. But not because of Caleb. Because of my husband.

Posted by: Cheryl at October 10, 2005 07:52 AM (xz8OC)

4 Sounds & looks like a wonderful day. Hope you're feeling better after a good weekend.

Posted by: cursingmama at October 10, 2005 08:02 AM (PoQfr)

5 Beautiful pics - and what a fun trip!

Posted by: jill at October 10, 2005 08:32 AM (mPnaW)

6 Yeah for pumpkins! I'm with Bear. It's hard to stop at just one : )

Posted by: Laura at October 10, 2005 03:38 PM (LMDzv)

7 What a great day! We always have at least two pumpkins. This year's count is 6. So far.

Posted by: christina at October 10, 2005 07:49 PM (myf5L)

8 Sounds like you guys had a great time. We have been wanting to take the boys to one of those farms this year. I love fall!

Posted by: Crystal at October 11, 2005 02:39 AM (tatlE)

9 I was so happy reading this post just to see the words "Bear... running." My heart ached for you when he was sick. I am so glad he's feeling better.

Posted by: Lucinda at October 11, 2005 11:20 AM (OPvIN)

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