G's preschool class went on a field trip to Faulkner's Pumpkin Farm today, our family's third pumpkin patch this autumn. Normally, she's only in school Tues and Thurs, but I thought it would be fun to meet her class there. As we were having breakfast though, it rained, so I got the girls dressed like we were going out into an Alaskan fall day, i.e. accordingly, forgetting hats (and my camera).
Our class was one of three that arrived at 9am. We had Scarecrow Betty as a guide, through a "warm-up" song; a story about a pumpkin who doesn't get picked for a jack-o-lantern, and whose seed eventually sprouts a pumpkin for the following autumn, which does get picked; through a caterpillar tunnel; a hay ride on a very muddy track; a (fake) cow milking contest; and the farm animal petting zoo, which we didn't participate, i.e. ewww. All of this done outside – in the cold. I wouldn't say it was horribly cold considering we bundled (although I could have wished for a hat, instead of a hood, for BB), and we had rain boots for the mud puddles, but there were some miserable looking adults. At the end, we each got to take home a sugar pumpkin.
All in all, not a bad experience, might have been better if it had been warmer. My kids came away almost happy (because G wanted a snack and I didn't bring anything) and happily dirty: while everyone else was having a turn through the tunnel, the girls splashed in the mud. I can tell you, there were a few other kids that wished they could do the same. But during the milking contest, BB instigated a running and screaming troupe – there's always fun to be had in that, esp when there are tables and chairs and grown-ups to run in between.
