Pumpkin Picking

Two weekends ago we took our annual Gilcrease Orchard pumpkin patch trip.

This time Joey, a total newbie to the joys of pumpkin hunting, came with us!

In the past I had always been able to take the kids during the week in order to avoid the crazy amounts of people who go on the weekend...not this year.

 I started teaching again so we were only able to go on the weekend, however, it came with one major perk...having daddy with us for the first time!

Before we even got to the orchard parking lot we could see cars parked along the side of the road as if to say the main parking lot was full...oh goodness.

Well, I should have known that having Joey with us was a good luck charm because despite the parking lot being full we found someone pulling out pretty darn close to the main entrance of the orchard.

At that point I said to everyone in the car, 

"I know it's going to be madness, but it's ok...we are here with each other and we are going to have fun."

I kept that mentality up as we fought through the crowd of people and had to patiently wait for a wheelbarrow.

Once we got our wheelbarrow we booked it down the long stretch of dusty dirt road till we reached the pumpkin patch, which was way less crowded than the entrance area and walkway had been. 

As per our last trips to the pumpkin patch, I was mentally prepared for one of the kids to have a melt down on THIS trip, but to my dismay both kids were great and had so much fun! 

I think I owe that to Joey's persistence with keeping the kids (& me) hydrated with his camel pack!

This year, unlike past years, Gilcrease had grown white...yes, WHITE pumpkins!!

They were gigantic, heavy, & so incredibly beautiful.

 By the end of our pumpkin hunting adventure we had 200 lbs of pumpkins in our wheelbarrow...

That was the day Joey discovered he had married a pumpkin addict, buuuut...

I wouldn't have it any other way! 

Picking pumpkins right from where they grow will always be my favorite fall activity. 

I'm so thankful this year, despite the crowd, that Joey came with us and we in fact had the best pumpkin picking time to date!