Pumpkin picking

I have been slacking on my blogging lately...

Not too much to report around here. We have all managed to catch a cold, so we are taking it easy this weekend with lots of naps and couch time. We did manage a little outing this morning, just to get some fresh air. Since the weather was nice we decided to head over to the pumpkin farm to pick out some pumpkins.

Pumpkins farms are a serious business here in the Midwest! There are quite a few, and they aren't what I envisioned a pumpkin farm would be like. I would like to go out to a field where you walk through rows of pumpkins, picking your favorite one and paying less than $10 for it. They could even have a stand where you can buy yummy Fall treats -I'm ok with that too.

Most of the "farms" that I find around here charge on average $8 admission/person to walk in the door. Once in, there are tons of carnival rides, food stands, petting zoos, games, corn mazes, wagon rides, and you've yet to even buy your pumpkin. By the time you leave you've spent at least $50.

I don't mind so much that these places exist, I just wish that there was some variety and that I could find something more like what I originally envisioned a pumpkin farm would be like. I am sure when Anabelle is a little older she'll really enjoy spending hours at the pumpkin farm partaking in all of the activities, and I am sure we'll have fun too. But there also needs to be something for people with smaller children, children with special needs, or people who don't want to spend a ton of money. A place where you can experience a little bit of Fall, take some cute pictures, and not be completely over stimulated. At this age any outing could take a turn for the worse quickly, so it seems crazy to spend $8/person and then have to leave in 20 minutes because of any number of toddler reasons.

Wanting more of an experience than just buying our pumpkin at Wal-mart, I remembered where I used to take my students when I taught. We would go to Sonny Acres in West Chicago. It is a huge place complete with all of the activities found at other pumpkin farms. However they don't charge admission and they use a ticket system for their rides. So it was a good compromise. Maybe this isn't cost effective for the kid who wants to ride every ride 10 times, but for a little 2 yr old who is happy to just ride the choo-choo once, walk around and look at all the decorations, choose a pumpkin, and then head home it was just the right price. We got 2 large pumpkins, a ride, and Fall ambiance for $22 dollars.