Pumpkin Patch

Rudy met Jan at the Rudy exit (funny, huh?) to get Caleb this morning. They got home just as I was getting up and around. Caleb came in feeling the after-effects of a weekend with Grandma. I promptly put a movie on for him. This gave him some thinking time and gave us some breathing time before any of us had the chance to irritate each other. It has quickly become evident to Rudy and I that it takes Caleb some time to get used to the expectations of home when he's with any of his grandparents for an extended period of time. We're okay with that, we just have to make sure we remember. After the movie, Caleb ate his lunch at a snail's pace and then I put him down for his nap. He cried for a ridiculously long time before finally going to sleep.

At about 3:00, Rudy woke Caleb up and we got ready to go to the pumpkin patch. We went to the same one that we went to last year and it was just as much fun. When we got there, Caleb was a little grumpy from the hour-long ride. (I know - an hour to go to the pumpkin patch! It's worth it!) We went straight to the pumpkins, but he wasn't happy with that. We tried to get him to play on the hay jump, but he fussed and cried when he fell down. Then we let him play pumpkinball, but that frustrated him. We tried the slides and he did great until he cried when he couldn't do the big slide by himself. That's when Rudy pulled him aside for an attitude adjustment. After a stern talking-to, Caleb's attitude improved tremendously and we had a wonderful family evening together. Here are some of the things that we did:

The Hay Ride: We even saw some deer while we were on our 45 minute hay ride...

Of course, we picked out a few pumpkins and posed for some pictures:

Caleb liked pumping water for the duck races:

His favorite thing of the day was riding the cow train. He rode it 3 times. Rudy and I each rode it with him once and then he told us he could "do it by myself."

We took home a couple of pumpkins to carve this week:
And Caleb picked out a pumpkin that was just his size!
This is one of my favorite family activities that we do. I love fall and I love being with my boys at the pumpkin patch!