Weekend Summary

James loves driving around town with us to look at Halloween decorations. He has a new favourite decoration to supplant the Splatty Witch: big black Halloween cats, preferably inflated.

James, his Dad, and I lay siege to his room today. Out came 2 large garbage bags of trash, a bag of outgrown clothing & shoes, and 2 bags of outgrown toys and books (to be donated to his preschool). Oh, and a rocking chair. In came another book shelf for all the books that had been tumbled about on the floor, precariously perched on some things and buried under others. James now has room to play. And get dressed. This only took the entire afternoon ...

Realization: eating french fries together with milk will now almost aways trigger an upchuck episode with James. Milk alone is not the trigger. French fries are tricky but he has eaten them solo and not been sick. Adios to this duo for a while.

Throwing Back to Pumpkins Past

I was looking back through the pictures of the kids, visiting a local pumpkin patch over the years. Hard to believe these were taken 5 years ago!

And here are a couple that are 4 years old:

....

and then there's this year:

A Sincere Pumpkin Patch

James' sister asked when we were going to visit a pumpkin patch for Halloween. This weekend seemed an ideal time. Sonoma County is a great place for agricultural events, so we have a nice range of choices for pumpkin patch experiences.

Because we don't want to take the time to drive to Petaluma, and brave paid parking and crowded, dusty, noisy places, we usually try our side of the Petaluma grade. We've tried a local farm about 3 miles from our house. This year, however, they are not doing a patch. Our favourite place has been Grandma's in Healdsburg.

This weekend I really wanted to keep it simple, as James was having a fussy day. I had noticed a Pumpkin Patch sign along a country lane that ended into my work commute. So I piled the kids in the car and we headed there. I am so glad I did, because we discovered the newest, sweetest little pumpkin patch ever.

There were barely 2 dozen pumpkins left on the hay-strewn patch of ground. Growing beds flanked the pumpkins and the sprinkler was spritzing away at them. A few cheerful decorations were set up, and the man who had been spinning the pumpkin sign at the entrance hurried up the lane to greet us and explain that this was their first year selling pumpkins.

A large black truck had followed us in. When the driver heard this new patch did not have a bounce house, hay rides, or a corn maze, he turned right around and headed back out. This left us free to roam about and explore what was there. It was like having our own, personal pumpkin patch. It felt very down home, and sincere.

We ended up buying a pumpkin, a small pumpkin, and a gourd. Joshua, our sales guy, thanked us for coming, made a good push to sell us some Indian Corn, and finally invited us to come back in December, when they would be selling Christmas trees. He was quite funny about uses for the gourd. My daughter has plans based on his ideas.

I think we'll be back. Great Pumpkin, if you are looking for a Sincere Pumpkin Patch, make sure you stop by Shiloh Road!

They have a wonderfully quirky sense of humour!

Halloween Spunk

October's been a tough month for us all here. James has progressively resisted going to school, practically breaking down in tears and begging me not to go. Routine has flown out the window in chunks at home and at school almost daily. Second grade is ramping up challenges for learning and behaviours.

Witch and splatty witch, on our way to school
on Halloween morning.

To James, October was a magic month. It meant Halloween. He was very firm about what he wanted to be: a witch. Not a warlock. Not Harry Potter. A witch. He asked every day to go looking at the Halloween decorations. Splatty witches are still a big thing for him, and luckily I found a version of one at the Dollar Store and brought it home is September, because they were gone like *that* and James took immense pleasure in helping to set it up on our very own garage door. It kind of made up for our van disappearing and not coming back (that's a story for another time). He also liked spiders, webs, and bats. Skeletons fascinated him.

A trip to the Party Store a few weeks back put a big grin on his face. We got him his very own witch's hat and an Angry Bird trick-or-treat bag. K-Mart had a dynamite 50% off sale on costumes the day before Halloween and I picked up capes for his sister and him. A good friend sent us scads of cool glow-in-the-dark necklaces, which we all wore around our necks so the motorists could see us.  James' Halloween witch's cup was full.

It was very hot until the day of Halloween; then it rained that afternoon and evening. James didn't care. He helped put up decorations and kept talking about Halloween while we ate pizza. Then he pulled on his boots, held a ladybug umbrella in one hand, high above his pointy hat, and his Angry Birds bag in the other before sailing out into the dark and stormy night. We went three blocks in the rain, braving puddles, Evil Dead-type houses, and barking dogs. At each door, James sang out "Trick-or-Treat!!" and "thank you!" with an occasional "Happy Halloween!" thrown in for luck.

We arrived back home, soaking. James was happy to change into his jammies and curl up with blankets and watch me hand out treats at our door. Right now I am looking at an Angry Birds bag that is 1/3 full of candy. He hasn't touched it. It's not the important part for him.