Pumpkin patch

Each year, Cal Poly Pomona hosts an annual pumpkin patch on a single weekend in October.  Last year, I didn't realize it only happened on one weekend and drove all over the campus trying to find the pumpkins, only to be disappointed.  This year, I was ready!  I'm really confused about this place though and the logistics.  I initially assumed that they just brought in truckloads of pumpkins, because, let's face it, this is Los Angeles, and fields of pumpkins isn't really the norm.  However, Cal Poly does have a working farm and really nice farm store, and the patch definitely had had things growing in it.  So I think they probably do grow some pumpkins there, but then they truck in tons of them and lay them in the field.  I'm not sure why that has been important for me to figure out, and I'm probably the only person who has pondered it for more than 1.3 seconds.  But there you have a little insight into my mind.

We had initially planned to go on Saturday, but it was 100 degrees and Rebecca was already tired from dance class.  Since the forecast was for cooler temps on Sunday, and since we went to Mass again on Saturday night, we decided to go on Sunday morning.  It was a mere 93 degrees on Sunday.  You will notice in some of the pics that it looks like Rebecca's face is red.  That's because we were all melting in the heat.  The pumpkin patch also has face painting, pony rides, a petting zoo, arts and crafts activities, and lots of food booths.  Rebecca was only in it for the pumpkin.

We traipsed all over the field to examine each and every pumpkin, I believe.  Just as we were at the Back-40, Rebecca announced she needed to pee-pee so we flew across the field and to the restroom, only to find out that it was a false alarm.

Rebecca was especially attracted to the ugly little green squash/gourd-like things that aren't flat on the bottom.  She carried two of those around and pretended to be their mama for the better part of an hour. 

I wanted a white fairytale pumpkin, so I picked out a perfect one of those.  Rebecca was continually distracted by all the weird pumpkins.

Eventually, Rebecca was convinced that we needed a big orange pumpkin for carving. 

She and Ramy had to search for just the perfect one...

Then it was very important that Rebecca lift the pumpkin herself.  She finally consented from "help" from Daddy.  But she proclaimed this to be the perfect pumpkin for our jack-o-lantern.

Finally, it was time for us to get out of the heat and purchase our pumpkin finds.

But first, this cute little pie pumpkin called out to Rebecca to be rescued, so we had to bring him home.  Rebecca has since named him Peter and attempted to put her pajamas on him and refers to herself as his mommy.  This has let me and Ramy to many warnings about the unforgiving nature of tile floors and how if Peter gets dropped, he will break, and she'll be sad.  So far, no pumpkin guts on the floor, but I expect it any time.

On our way out, Rebecca was so enthralled that she even had to give the scarecrows a hug.

It was a really fun day, and Rebecca proclaimed (in the car on the way home), "I like that pumpkin patch! It was fun!"