Pumpkin Patchin'

We headed to a pumpkin patch just down the road from us. In true Texas fashion we started our adventure by getting mercilessly attacked by fire ants. A friend of mine started swatting her feet as soon as she got out of her car and attempted to get her kids out, stating that she was having a "Fire ant moment," I responded sympathetically with "I'm so sorry," knowing all too well the cringe worthy sting that comes from a fire ant bite. Shortly thereafter Grace starts screaming and yelling "OW! Ow ow ow!" And then I feel them, those ridiculously small ants reeking havoc on my feet. I rushed to Grace trying my best to get them off, some catching hold on my hands and I do my best to get them off of myself. It was a few minutes later that I noticed that we had parked on a ginormous fire ant mound. We literally hit the mother-load. Are you noticing a trend here? Note to self: stop parking in the state of Texas-- or else fire ants will attack you. The picture doesn't do it justice, we both left with about 15 bites. We both had to sleep with socks on our feet for two weeks just to stop the scratching. I have the scars to prove that I seriously lacked will-power when it came to not scratching my feet. I felt so bad for Grace who truly didn't understand why her feet were so itchy. My poor baby.

After the attack, we put our minds elsewhere, and got to patchin' it up.

This pumpkin patch has a lot of different things to do and places to run around, which is fabulous for Grace, but not so fabulous for keeping an eye on Grace. I remember it feeling chaotic last year, and this year was no different. The plethora of people (even on a weekday during school), and those moments you stop to talk to someone and your child disappears almost instantaneously and suddenly you find yourself saying "Have you seen a giant candy corn bow with a little girl underneath it running around here?" Thankfully I have some pretty stellar friends who don't mind hanging with Grace too, so we never lost eyes on her.

But, most importantly, Sister-friend had fun. And thats all you can ask from a pumpkin patch right?

I didn't get the classic pumpkin patch picture (bail of hay, my kids on it, pumpkin in arms) but we did attempt a picture on the hayride. My kids look so happy, don't they?

Our other hay-riding members were also equally as happy.

 After our hay ride we headed out for some lunch, plastic bibs and all.

It truly was a Pumpkin Patch success.