Two Duds and a Winner

We have been so busy lately enjoying all the fall activities that I haven't made time to write about them all. Every time I do take a moment to sign on here, I end up looking at all my friend's blogs and don't do my own. So here's another attempt at getting this done...

We went to this pumpkin patch that was near Hood River, Oregon and it was a little more than an hour drive to get there. We had heard wonderful things about this farm and their website looked impressive. We eventually get there and it's a total DUD!!! I'm not sure what our "source" was thinking when she recommended this place, but I'm telling you NOT WORTH THE DRIVE. It was really disappointing with not much to do except walk around their wiped out pumpkin field. This tractor was the highlight of the farm. The other thing they had there was pumpkin bowling, where Tucker got to throw small pumpkins at some bowling pins that were impossible to set up on the uneven surface. We did get some good acorn squash to make for dinner, but that was really the best thing we got out of the visit. Of course Tucker didn't mind though because any little boy is happy as long as he gets to run around in a field and no one tells him not to get dirty!! However, we will not be returning next year. We did enjoy the family time together and the weather was pretty warm and sunny!

Tucker did some Halloween crafts this year and they are such a treasure to me! They are beyond adorable and I can't wait to do these things with him for every holiday! Now I know why moms always say they love the homemade gifts the best. This is a pumpkin that he painted. I would highly recommend doing this. It's a thin, wood pumpkin that was bought at Michaels and he loved painting it! We also got some of those tiny pumpkins, felt and glue. These are the "jack-o-lanterns" that we created. I cut a bunch of shapes, mouths and hats out of the felt and let Tucker decide what kinds of faces he wanted on each pumpkin. He loved using the glue and it was really easy for him to do! I wish I could keep these pumpkins for next year, they are so cute! He named them too, (left to right) Pirate Pumpkin, Witch Pumpkin, King Knight and Baby Sister.

The next pumpkin patch that we went to was AWESOME!!! They had this "cow train" ride that Tucker just loved! He wanted to sit in his own cart and he laughed and screamed the whole ride. The lady that sat in front of him just laughed at him the whole ride. It's so fun that he is becoming just a little bit more adventurous and will try some new things. He is usually scared by things like this, so it was good to see him try something new. We ended up going on the cow train two times! He begged to go again, but we wanted to try the corn maze and all the other fun things.

Tucker and Grandma Michele at the Pumpkin Patch!

This is an aerial picture of the maze that we went through at the Pumpkin Patch! It was so much fun, pretty difficult and REALLY muddy! But that just made it all the more fun for us, especially Tucker. He stomped through the mud puddles and squished around on the muddy trails through maze. It took us a while to get through it all, I think the corn field is 5 acres.
This is Tucker in the corn maze. Notice the big mud puddle he has his cowboy boots sunk into! He had so much fun. We will be going back to this farm again next year, without a doubt!

OK, so the last and final stop on our Pumpkin Patch Tour of the Portland Metro Area was none other than the ....dum-dah-dah-dum...Roloff Farm from TLCs Little People, Big World!

I really can't begin to tell you how dorky I felt for the great excitement I felt for going to this farm. In some ways my high hopes were met and in others, I felt let down. One thing that I was very excited about was that we saw both Matt and Amy, but I only got a picture of Matt.

We got to see their dog Rocky.

They had lots of pumpkins that were carved really cool.

TLC was filming, so look for me on TV. ha ha ha

And we got a very rare family picture taken....

Other than those things, I have to sadly admit that I was a little bit disappointed! It felt more like touring a Hollywood set than visiting a pumpkin patch. They had a tractor tour that just showed you the property that you see while watching the show, which was the studio tour part. The rest of the farm was kind of a dud. The "store" that you see on TV for their pumpkin patch was practically empty and there weren't any workers that we recognized. We wanted the kids or grandparents (or anyone we recognized) to be working in the store...nope. So I think since we have seen it once, we probably won't return there either. So I think the summary of our pumpkin patch tours come down to this....Two Duds and a Winner.