Family Adventures: Pumpkin Picking

There's a chill in the air and grey skies and hot tea and and pumpkins everywhere, and Hallowe'en is almost upon us. We're sometimes a bit behind or ahead of the curve when it comes to seasonal traditions, but maybe because of Caleb's already unconventional-enough upbringing, we're trying our best to stay with the crowd. And so off we went to a pumpkin patch to get our own. We went to Reesor's Farm out in Markham, and it was great! They were super friendly and it was simple and easy to find our pumpkins and they have a farmer's market to buy fresh produce and baked goods as well. I have to admit I was a bit surprised to see a pumpkin patch for the first time - it looked a bit like an overgrown and possibly abandoned field, and not quite like the pumpkin patches in the children's Hallowe'en books I've seen at the library. However, in hindsight, it was probably more to do with the fact that we're getting our pumpkins pretty late in October, and these fields have probably been picked over pretty well. We came on a weekday, so we had the entire patch basically to ourselves - we got to roam far and wide, rolling pumpkins over to examine their backsides. I think Caleb had a blast because he's sort of a little muscle man - he's such a physical kid, and he loved carrying pumpkins from here to there and tipping them over into the wagon. And I think it was also partially because the act of "helping" is something he's really latched onto - he loves this idea that he's a critical park of the whole operation, bringing our selections from their beginnings to our wagon. It's so funny to watch him as a little guy walking around, looking up at me and pointing to this pumpkin? Nope, too flat. This pumpkin? Nope, too big. This pumpkin? Perfect! - and then watching him heave it up and bring it back. Of course the best part was the wagon. It was a bit crazy going over the bumps, but Caleb's pretty sturdy at holding on the sides. We stopped by the market to pick some some vegetables and pay for our pumpkins. And we stopped for some noodles on the long trip home. It's been a long, long road, but I think we've finally reached the stage where we can take Caleb out for meals in restaurants without needing to micromanage every motion, or feeling a burning need to hide under our table. He spilled some water (on me, of course) and also contaminated around 6 extra chopsticks, but all in all, noodles continue to be a favourite meal for everyone. We came home with a pumpkin for everyone on the team to carve their own, and Caleb helped for around 45 seconds until he got bored, mainly because cutting a pumpkin is pretty hard for a two year, and pulling out seeds is only fun for so long. We don't have all of our staff pumpkins done yet, but I thought I would share a photo of them so far. It's mostly my imagination, but it does seem a bit spooky and exciting to have the pumpkins lit in a dark and empty shop in the night. It's like I'm 8 years old again.

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We've been busy here, with fall and new products and orders coming in and Scriptus coming up soon, or maybe the fall weather has also stirred up something in all of us to get going on all of our projects and freshening up everything in the shop. We'll have another blog post in the next week with some of the fun we have planned for the show, but of course you can always come by our table. We've got a few treats and surprises planned, and one pretty exciting one in particular that I'm sure is going to basically fly off the table. Stay tuned! I'm loving these fall days, especially with Caleb getting bundled up. He loves stepping out into the cool air, and often starts running just to have the thrill of a cold wind against his face. These days are probably coming, too soon, to a close, where Caleb, already a bit of a self-conscious kid, can just be gleeful at...the air. Even Super has a bit more friskiness, despite all the grey coming in around his snout and paws - in the heat of the summer, with all of his fur, he moves a bit slower, but as the air cools down, it's like he's a puppy again. These are some of my favourite days. ©