The Pumpkin Patch Is Alive and Well and Living in the Hill Country of Texas.

Thank goodness for camera phones . . . because, since my “he who bleeds maroon” Husband who just HAD to stay home and watch the Texas A&M vs. LSU game, I didn’t have enough hands to juggle the “real” camera and Kidlets during our annual “Pumpkin Patch Adventure.”

Not enough hands …. especially since I also NEEDED a free hand to drink my freshly pressed Apple Cider.

(Have you ever swooned at a Pumpkin Patch or at an Apple Orchard?  ’Cause I did.  Twice — because I had two cups of this wondrous elixir.  And then I was sad I didn’t buy more.  Sigh…. so very ,very, very sad.)

It was the camera phone to the rescue as my Mother-in-Law and I braved the Pumpkin Patch alone.

She ran the maze with the Kidlets, steering Baby Barney Kneeknuckles through the straw bale corridors.

Of course, there was more to the Love Creek Orchard Pumpkin Patch than the maze. It’s a working orchard so there apples available, as well as the aforementioned fresh apple cider (oh, that cider) …

Plus tractor rides, story-telling and music, a farm-animal petting area … activities galore for a fun family afternoon.

And, as expected . . . there were pumpkins. Lots and lots and lots of pumpkins.

Pumpkins just perfect for climbing.

Then, there is the whole “point” of going to the pumpkin patch … the annual fall photo.  A ritual made only slightly more awkward this year by a precocious toddler who insisted on NOT following “Mommy’s Picture Taking Protocol” and who would. not. look. at. the. camera.

One photo of all my Kidlets’ beautiful eyes.  That’s all I wanted and needed.

We’ll have to come to an understanding before next year.