Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Wow, it's been a really long time since I last blogged.  Tristan's always on our computer these days watching film, and I'm just...pregnant, tired, and don't feel like looking at a computer screen in the evenings after working all day.  Not a whole lot missed, though, being as it's football season we've been laying pretty low.

However, we've now entered one of my favorite months of the year.  October brings cooler weather (allegedly...come ON San Diego, what's your deal lately???), Oktoberfest, pumpkin & Oktoberfest beer (wah for me), pumpkin spice lattes, Halloween, and of course, pumpkin patches!  It's the 2nd weekend of October and we've already been to two!

The first patch we went to is down the street from us, and this is our third year going with Mason.  They have a small hayride.

They also have a little corn maze that we checked out.  Now that I'm looking at these pictures, apparently Mason ate/drank his way through both of these activities.

Then it was time to pick out a pumpkin!

So bright, sorry buddy!

The glasses only help if you put them over your eyes, cool guy.

Better on the glasses, but if you look closely they're totally sideways.

I need to go back and find some old pictures, because we've taken this same picture for 3 years.  

My 30-week picture with my two little pumpkins!  If you ask Mason where his little brother is, this is what he shows you.

This weekend, Laura & I decided to take all the kids to another well-known patch up in the mountains some called Bates Nut Farm.  I had never been and was hoping to go this year, so despite the hubbies being busy, we decided to brave it ourselves with all the kiddos.

Oops, we forgot Ava!  Right after I took this picture I made the observation of "well, if Madden comes out with black hair and dark skin like his parents, he's going to be quite a sight with this crew!"

They had a really great hayride - we got there early so grabbed the first car behind the big tractor!

Then it was off to the maze - this one was awesome b/c it was made out of low bales of hay, and it was a hunt for 7 stamps hidden throughout.  These three monkeys spent an hour running around the maze as fast as they could.

Check out that backdrop :)

And this little lady, who's 1st birthday was yesterday, followed along at her own pace, big smiles the whole time.

Buddies :)

Next it was time for an early lunch.

And more smiles from Ava :)

Then Grace & Mason decided they wanted to do some body painting.  Mason insisted on a car on his arm, so the lady did a cool train for him.

And Grace braved the rock wall.  She made it all the way to the top!

Last but not least, we had to get our pumpkins.  Poor Laura...at 31 weeks pregnant I'm no help when it comes to heavy lifting, and we didn't have a stroller. 

Yeah Laura!  I offered to carry Ava but she insisted she had it.  So I just stood aside and took pictures of her instead :) 5 pumpkins and a 25 lb baby on her back...rockstar!

Yeah for pumpkin patches and October!