Pumpkin Patch 2008

Last year, arguably some of the best pictures we've taken of Lucas were the ones taken at a pumpkin patch. If you don't remember, check them out here. We actually had 3 of them framed and they are on our wall. I'm pretty sure they've found their way to the background on at least a couple of the computers of people reading this right now.

That said, a few weeks ago, we decided to bring Lucas to a nearby farm that has a pumpkin patch to get another batch of Halloween-themed photos. Unfortunately, none of the ones from this trip had quite the impact as last year's. A big part of that is due to the fact that Lucas is more mobile now. Last year, we sat him down and he just stayed there and smiled. Nowadays, unless you physically hold him down, he's going to want to wander. And trust me, if you DO hold him down, you're not going to want the picture that comes from that.

The place we went to is called Valley View Farm, and they have a variety of different things to see or do, which makes it great for little kids. There's an area where they can interact with animals like goats and sheep, a train ride, a big playground, and of course, lots of pumpkins. Up at the front, several pumpkins were displayed along with a statue that is presumably up there year round. Not really sure what the significance of the monkey was, but our little monkey liked it.


Here, Lucas tentatively touches the pumpkin. It ain't gonna bite!


At one point, in order to get a picture of him with pumpkins before he could wander off, we surrounded Lucas with them. You can probably tell by his face that he's thinking, "Nice try, but it's gonna take more than what you got to keep me in one spot."


Unfortunately, I didn't get any front shots of him petting or feeding the animals. This is probably the best of the bunch. However, there is a video of him feeding the goat that I'll try and post at some point in the future.


There's nothing in particular about this next photo. I just thought it was a nice shot of mom and son. It would be perfect if Lucas was looking at the camera, but you take what you can get with 1 year olds, right?


Valley View has this big "statue" that is basically a mash-up of several different animals. Lucas found it interesting as we walked by, so I gave him a better point of view. He seemed to enjoy this.


Oddly enough, he much preferred petting the panda to riding it. If you look at the web albums--once I post them--you'll see he wasn't quite as pleased in the follow-up to this photo where I sit him on the panda.


We wrap up with a couple more pictures of Lucas with pumpkins. The latter one is probably the closest in spirit to those great ones from last year. The biggest issue I have with the photo though, is that I cut off most of the actual pumpkins. Still, he's both looking toward the camera AND smiling, so I call it a success.




Hope you enjoyed! Just wait until you see him in the costume I bought him while in Atlanta. If we get him to actually keep it on, it's going to be just plain adorable.