back to nature + a fall harvest festival

so last year's attempt to get our pumpkin patch on was an epic fail. and that's ok. it happens. there is a learning curve with parenting and outings. and i am all about carving out future mistakes.

you see, we thought any neighborhood pumpkin patch would do. but eh, no offense city patches, we can do a tad better. and maybe they aren't all like this but the one we went to was just sad. sad in the way i felt when i realized the "zebras" in tijuana were painted donkeys. and it was cramped. and HOT. that, combined with the background noise of traffic and usual west hollywood madness, wasn't getting us in the halloween spirit. and this threw me off. i am a city girl after all. i appreciate a good urban interpretation of american traditions. but this wasn't cutting it. what we cheeks needed was to visit a legit farm. get back to nature. run in some corn mazes and ride a tractor. feed donkeys dressed as donkeys. and emus. love those crazy birds! so this year we did our homework, and based on recommendations and a bit of google research we trusted the fall harvest festival at underwood farms would fulfill all of our halloween season dreams.

and you guessed right. it did not disappoint!

it felt so good to be out there. out there. sheesh. to be honest it was less than an hour away. 52 minutes to be precise. but still. that's far for us! we spoiled. most of our activities are within a mile of our apartment. but like i said, sometimes you have to go out of your way to get your fill of this....

and pumpkins for days... the place easily hosted several hundred people there that day but still felt so spacious... the minivan of pumpkin patches :->

josh and i were both surprised at how elaborate the festival was. maybe even a little overwhelmed. i was expecting a lot of pumpkins and hay, some tractors and corn fields. this festival had all that plus a playground, carnival games, a petting coral, an animal show, live music and several wagon rides.

if the farm wasn't as big as it was i would have hated it.

map in hand, we quickly planned our day. we decided to start with the playground, because playgrounds, and then make our way to the petting zoo. some of my favorite moments and photos followed.

>> knox you are too cute, why are you so cute?!

>> feeding time! i swear they starve the animals before they let us in because they eagerly awaited every smelly nugget the boys handed them. good business, lol.

>> maxwell is the best hugger you will ever meet. FACT.

>> i literally lol'd when i saw this. that goat smiling is everything! and knox's little fangs! not a costume!

after we managed to pry the kids away from their new farm friends, we braved the line for the hayride. probably the longest 15 minutes of our lives. my ears still may be ringing a bit. when our turn came we could not get on fast enough.

i know some parents avoid situations like this because trying to reason young ones into being patient is like mission impossible. but josh and i must be gluttons for punishment and we be like, f it. it will be worth it. the more they scream, the bigger the pay off. we hope?! and thank god it did this time because we had a level ten shit storm on our hands. reason still unknown.

moving on!

the lady operating the ride was so nice and tried to take a few photos of us. josh looked like a movie star in all of them. the rest of us well, enough said.

>> putting me to shame...

>> pfft... he's lucky someone is getting all of this! i am not one to miss (or create, wink wink :->) a great photo opportunity. and disclaimer sigh here. that has been a struggle for me since starting this space... trying to still live in the moment as opposed to living to write about it later.

and then off to the pumpkin patch where max was determined to climb his way to this tractor. his persistence is inspiring. and also terrifying.

and all of the sudden we were starving. the food was decent until i saw people walking around with fried corn. how had i missed that? i love me some corn. next year. next year i shall have my festival corn vandammit!

you live and you learn.

then my worst idea ever. taking fashion shots in a corn maze after eating greasy food really fast in a now wrinkly dress that your kid smeared chocolate chips into. oops.

by the end we left with some great memories and all the makings for a decent blog post. and we escaped the city for a few hours. and really needed a beer. thank you fall harvest festival! we out!