As is now officially a family tradition, we take a trip to a local orchard to partake in picking pumpkins. K. was really excited about it this year and she knew that she would get to ride in a wagon to go out to the pumpkins. I don’t know if she remembers this from last year, or has seen it in photographs of our trip last year, but there was happiness anyway.
We went out to the field: K. in the wagon and N. in the stroller. There were tons of people at the orchard, but besides having to wait in a couple of lines, it didn’t feel too crowded when we were there. The pumpkin patch had pumpkins a’ plenty for our picking pleasure.
K. and Dad performed the primary picking of the pumpkins while N. supervised. I’m continually pleasantly surprised at how content N. can be. She gets a little antsy in her stroller, but as long as the scenery changes enough she stays happy. I think she just wants to be part of the action.
K. was really excited to pull the wagon of the pumpkins. She’s actually remarkably strong, and being able to pull the wagon “all by herself” was enjoyable for her—she’s at that age where she’s trying to come up with more opportunities for independence.
Once we released N. from the stroller (once Mom got over her phobia of getting dust on the baby), she pulled herself up on the wagon, then thought about taking a few steps by herself (which she has started doing!!!). In the next pictures, though, she is conducting an imaginary orchestra. 
Perhaps she will follow in her mom’s footsteps.
Sorry the girls are so squinty in the pictures—let’s discuss for a moment just how hot it actually was outside! I’ll tell you—it’s a little jarring to go to a pumpkin patch when the weather is in the upper 80s! Last year, the little K. even had to wear a scarf and mittens with her coat. This year, Mom struggled to find a fall outfit that the girls wouldn’t get so hot they’d melt while wearing.
One of the fun things at the orchard (besides the pumpkins, of course) is the play area. There’s a huge pile of hay for rolling around in and jumping on. Daddy tossed N. into the hay. She was unsure at first (read: upset) but once she realized she’d had a soft landing she warmed up to it. K’s first time playing in the hay brought much more uncertainty.
Amazingly, she wasn’t as inclined to eat it as I thought she would be.
I think that Dad and Mom (not pictured) had as much fun playing in the straw as the girls did. In fact, once the straw started flying…
…N. booked it out of there.
K. had a good time, though.
And I took any opportunity for some snuggles with the girls. Some day we’ll all sit nicely together and smile, but since I don’t think my sister and I have, to this day, sat cooperatively with our mom when a camera was involved, I’m not holding my breath. I take what I can get. And two out of three isn’t bad.
I am continually surprised by the things that K. comes up with and the things she knows about. After playing in the straw a while, she sat and made a nest. She then came over and invited Dad to come see her nest. I didn’t even know she knew what a nest was, to say nothing of figuring out that the materials were similar.
We can probably thank Sesame Street for that, but I’m still pleased that she made the connection between the straw and a nest.
And thanks to the tripod I remembered to bring stroller I sat the camera on, we captured the family together. We really do all exist! N. was pretty ready to go home at that point—both girls were past their nap times, and we had all been at K’s soccer game that morning—but they were super troopers.
Thanks for reading this far!
K. was invited to a birthday party that was a dress-up tea party (with delicious pink lemonade “tea”). She wore one of her princess dresses from the dress-up stash and she and I went. It was a lot of fun! I didn’t take any pictures of the party (sorry—I didn’t want to be “that mom”—“Hey, K, look over here! Now pretend to drink tea…look up, darling…smile…now have a bite of pink cupcake…smile…) but I did take some pictures after the party. It was at a neat nursery (the plant kind, not the baby kind) and we walked around a little bit post-celebration. 
And I think I love her hair in curly pigtails—too fun!
