out and about

we took our first family outing this weekend and visited a nearby pumpkin patch. we left the house overly prepared. the hats and coats weren't necessary, and neither was the gigantic diaper bag (but the camera was at least well protected). i think i may be paying (physically) for the outing today, but it was so worth it.



i've never seen a child get so excited about pumpkins before. we've actually dubbed the trip the 'pumpkin love fest'. henry was kissing the pumpkins, rolling on them, squeezing between as many as possible and calling them pumpkin houses. it was pumpkin bliss.

our excursion started with me nursing bea in the car while matt took henry to see the farm animals. he was really excited to see goats for some reason, but then again so was i. they're just so darn cute. the pigs stunk to high heaven and the chickens looked rather mean. then we moved on to the short hayride over to the pumpkin patch. the look on henry's face when he saw all the wee little pumpkins was like that of a kid on christmas morning. i kid you not! he tried picking up every tiny pumpkin and didn't know what to do when he saw more, keep the ones he had or drop em and head to the next pile. i'll give you one guess as to what he did.



then we walked through a small patch of cotton to go up the hill to where the big pumpkins awaited us. i think henry touched every pumpkin there was. he would run to one pumpkin, roll on top of it, then eye another one across the way and take off running towards it. he was zigzagging all over that field having the time of his life. matt and i just stood there with silly grins on our faces laughing at this pumpkin crazed boy.





after letting henry burn most of his energy, we took the hayride back to the starting point and paid for our little pumpkins and gourds. henry enjoyed riding behind the tractor, but when he got a chance to 'drive' one himself it became apparently became a ship, because he kept saying "arrgh maney" (arrgh matey) and that's his pirate lingo. then we made a quick stop at the little playground and got some good slides in and a few pushes on the big boy swing.




little things like this are why i love being a mom. seeing henry's pure joy and excitement over pumpkins and being at a farm. having the freedom to run like a mad man in any direction. watching him slide down a big slide and not have to be caught at the bottom. and the fact that he looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head for the two hours we spent there. i've never had so much fun watching someone else have fun as i have with this boy.