Livin' it up at the pumpkin patch

Every year since Nathaniel was born we've trekked about 35 miles south of Birmingham to visit the Grand Ole' Pumpkin Patch in Clanton, Ala. And by "trekked," I mean we drove in our air-conditioned minivan.


Last year I was pregnant with Jake, so this was his first time to participate. And while his "participation" was limited to watching everyone else have fun, that's really Jake's favorite thing to do. He loves just to be in the company of others, getting as close to the action as he can. I loved the outfit I'd found for him to wear; it's of utmost importance that the kids be wearing clothes that will coordinate with the scrapbooking layout later, of course. (I cringe when I think about the unfortunate "4th of July Debacle of '98," when Grayson neglected to get wardrobe approval and wore an orange shirt to the cookout. Imagine how hard I had to work to make that come together on the page.) But the polka-dots were just precious:





So precious, in fact, that someone asked if he's a girl.

Nick and Nathaniel's favorite part of the experience isn't so much finding the right pumpkin as it is spending as much time as possible on the inflatables. They LOVE the inflatable slides and spend as much as two hours every year in that area.

This year we lucked out with amazing weather, and we really enjoyed the entire day! Next year I'm sure it will be an entirely different experience, with Jake at 18 months old, following his older brothers around, trying to keep up. But for this year, they were quite the team.