A Birthday, A Game, & the Pumpkin Patch -1st Visit

10.16.12

Finally ... finally we got to experience 70 degree weather over the weekend. Perfect timing to enjoy my birthday. You bet I was happy.

I turned 37 years old.

I'm the youngest of my siblings. The youngest of my friends. And the youngest of my cousins of my generation. I'm also the only one from both sides of my mom and dads family that has a teenager, a pre-teen, and a toddler. With the exception of one cousin {Edna} I'm the second one from both sides of my family to marry someone of  a different race, but I married first. And with the exception of my sister Claudia I am the second one to be a right wing Christian Catholic conservative. I'm a cat person and my top 3 favorite actors are: Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, and Bruce Willis.

I feel blessed to have a 15 year old daughter, a 12 year old son, and an almost 2 year old toddler. Having been married for 16 years and being only 37 years old. I pray that God continues to bless me {us} with good health, happiness, and a tight family bond with my husband and children.

After we got ready for the day on Friday we left the house to enjoy such a cool breezy day.

When my husband got home from work he surprised me with a bottle of Conundrum and of course a card. We had gone to two different stores in Tucson a few weeks ago that sell wine but unfortunately we hadn't found the one I was looking for. We had yet to go to BevMo and that would have really been our last resort to find this wine or else I would have had to order it online. So thankfully they had it at BevMo. I definitely wasn't expecting Jacob to buy me the wine. I drank a glass and it was as good as I remembered it to be.

Instead of a traditional cake I actually went back to Trader Joe's and bought their pumpkin cheesecake. It sounded so good to me ... and it sure was. I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake because it's just too rich and although this one was it was so darn delicious. You should definitely go buy one if you haven't tried it. Just make sure you eat a small piece along with milk instead of coffee. I will totally buy it again before they stop selling it.

*****

Saturday.

All I can say is: Extremely pleasant weather.

It was actually cooler Saturday morning than Friday. Nathan had a football game. We sat at our usual spot under the tree and it was soo fresh, breezy that Jacob, Sydna, and my inlaws said they were cold. They are such wimps. It was fresh but not cold. It was in the high 60's at 11:00am. We had not experienced this cool weather in months. Not even when we visited San Diego in July or late August. You know I loved it!

The rock collector.

Unfortunately Nathans team lost. They lost bad. Try 32-0. Ouch!

After the game was over Jacob took Nathan inside the Y so he could change his clothes. We had plans on going to the pumpkin patch. Felt bad he was sweaty but it wouldn't hurt him just this once. We first stopped to eat some good old carne asada tacos. Delicious! Then we drove 45 minutes South of Tucson to a different pumpkin patch. A lady that works at Gymboree told me about this one. She said it's super nice and what made me want to come to this pumpkin patch was that they had a petting zoo and other farm animals. We typically go to Apple Annie's but they don't have a petting zoo but they do have a great pumpkin field and awesome views.

We love farm animals. Jacob stayed behind petting the horse and I took Riley to visit with the donkey. I grabbed some grass/weeds and put them in his hand. I told him to give the donkey the food and he stretched his arm and the donkey picked it right off his hand. I was SO stocked! I think I was more excited than Riley was and I am so happy I got a picture of it. Of his first time feeding a donkey.

Donkeys and Shetland ponies remind me of our dog Peyton. It's true.

How cute is my little guy on here ... with his little head all to the side. I didn't have him pose like this. It was all him.

Jacob wanted Riley to visit with the horse. The horse was totally macking on the pumpkin. Riley thought the sound was funny.

Thankfully Riley is not afraid of animals but he is cautious. He made sure not to stand too close to the animals legs or mouth.

He wanted to see the roosters up close too.

Then it was off to the kiddie hay maze. It was so funny to see him inside the maze. It was his first time in a maze but he knew he had to walk until he found a way out. I'm also so happy I got the picture on the right. Doesn't he look funny? I love it! Makes me laugh out loud. He's totally having a great ol' time.

It was still partially cloudy, breezy and cool by 3:00pm. I loved all the trees they had here. They provided great shade. It was very comfortable.

Unfortunately after looking out to where the pumpkins were at I noticed that it looked scarce. We were a bit far but I couldn't see any pumpkins. I also noticed that the 20 people that were dropped off of the hay ride -only 3 of those people had pumpkins. That totally made me not want to go out there so we left.

I'm glad that the kids had a good time. Riley never whined once. We really all had a good time. Although this place lacked great pumpkins I did get several great shots. I'm thankful for that. Not to worry though, we will be making another trip to a different pumpkin patch in the next few days. I'm excited for that!