The Great Pumpkin Patch

One of the many traditions in our household is picking our Halloween pumpkins. The least expensive way of doing this is to go to our local grocery store and grab a couple of pumpkins for around $3.00 each. We've tried this before but I have to admit that it's not satisfying on any level.

This year we tried the most expensive way of picking our pumpkins. More specifically we visited "The Great Pumpkin Patch" in Arcola, IL. Actually it's probably Sullivan, IL but close enough.

The first clue that it was going to be pricey was the entrance fee. Huh? I have to pay to get in? Yes, indeedy, but in the end it was worth it.

There were a massive number of pumpkins to pick from, though after a while they all began to look the same. There were a variety of penned-in animlas to look at, mostly chickens and bunnies with a few goats and pigs tossed in for good measure. There were several mazes, though the corn maze was a big disappointment because the high winds from hurricane Ike knocked most of the corn stalks down. At least that's what the sign said. More likely it was a screaming horde of kids that knocked the stalks down.

The maze made from hay bales was a big hit with the kids. There was a large sign outside the entrance that warned against running while in the maze. Of course, my kids ignored this sign and a few moments later they conked their noggins together. Thankfully, they didn't hit too hard. Secretly I was happy that they crashed into each other and didn't take some other kid down. Try explaining to some other parent why their kid has a hole in his head.

One of the fun things to do there is to take a picture of your kids sitting in the Pumpkin King and Pumpkin Queen chairs. Why was this especially fun? Well, for us it was fun because no matter how many times I took a picture Cami would have her eyes closed. I must have taken 10 pictures until I remembered that my camera has a burst mode. Taking 4 rapid pictures allowed me to finally get a picture of the kids with their eyes open.

One thing that we all enjoyed was seeing a pumpkin get launched using a trebuchet. See the video below. Sorry the picture is so dark. We were facing into the sun and I didn't get a chance to reposition myself. After the launch they measured the distance and the pumpkin traveled 475 feet! It was way cool.