OK, so by pumpkin patch I mean the pumpkin/Christmas tree emporium down on the corner. I know, I know....that's cheating, but in our defense, we did attempt to take Rachael pumpkin-picking at an honest-to-God pumpkin patch. We went two weeks ago....drove like 45 minutes to a farm in the middle of nowhere, only to find that there was a huge line of other families already there, waiting for the tractor to pick them up and take them and their screaming, bored children to a far away field to find their magic pumpkin... Yeah....
It took David and I about three minutes to figure out that this was a bad idea. Rachael was in NO way going to tolerate this. This was also about the same time that Rachael was bored enough to sit down in the gravel-covered waiting area and try to eat the dusty rocks. So, we packed up and drove 45 minutes back home. Pumpkinless. Our experience at the local pumpkin joint was so much nicer. After a tolerable five-minute drive, Rachael got out and toddled around rows and rows of pre-picked squash. She totally dug it--no waiting, just that immediate satisfaction that toddlers demand. We picked out two pumpkins and a pretty white mum for our front porch and headed home. Total time: under 30 minutes.
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So anyway, while this was not the pumpkin-acquiring method of our forefathers, it worked for us! The trick-or-treaters won't care that we didn't snip our squash off the vines ourselves. ;)
