As much as i would love to waffle on about our weekend, its late, I am tired and i want early night so that we can continue our summer adventures early tomorrow morning. Tonight our usual adventure filled stories will be replaced by photos. Yes i am a lazy boy! enjoy.
As a family we have many annual traditions, an array of things that we look forward to throughout the year. I think it's so important as a family to have these special and personal things that we do. It's a way of bringing us together, especially with all the other things going on in our lives.
One of our yearly traditions is picking pumpkins at Essington fruit farm, When the temperature starts to drop that's when i start looking forward to our Halloween trip. I remember the first visit like it was yesterday travelling by tractor up to the Pumpkin patch, Opeie was 7 months old and when i looked back at the pictures a minute ago i was reminded just how little Seth was. It was cold but a lovely sunny day and we laughed and joked around in the field studying each pumpkin so that we could be sure to make the perfect selection
We missed the following year as the weather had been so awful, the crops had been rained off. Last year though it was all go and we were stomping through the pumpkin patch once more. What we didn't realise last year though was that we were not supposed to be in the field, we just made our own way and helped ourselves, oops. I love having these things to look forward to every year and the boys get so excited, It's nice to think these special family outings are giving them great lifelong memories.
So its that time of year again and last weekend seemed like the perfect time to head out on our yearly hunt for something big and orange to stick a knife it. Opeie was a little more excited this year too being that bit older. When we arrived at the farm we couldn't believe how busy it was. There was a country fare on and there were cars and people everywhere. They always have amazing carved pumpkins on show but this year they had the artists there so you could watch them at work.
The queue for the tractor ride up to the pumpkin field was insanely long so we decided to venture up to the pumpkin patch on foot. When we reached the field as always we were greeted by masses of the Halloween fruit ready for the taking...
We had our usual muck about, or should i say, Me and Mrs M as usual were acting like children...
But we were there on serious business and our 3 and 8 year old children informed us of that. Time to pick our pumpkins. picking the right pumpkin is a big decision and one not to be taken lightly. I cant wait to get carving this week.
Our Pumpkin picking session was cut a little short when a tired Opeie fell over in the field and got prickles in his hand, bless him, we were all getting a little cold though so we waited for the tractor to take us back. This years pumpkin picking adventure was complete, now time to let our creative juices run wild.
On the drive home i had a song stuck in my head inspired by the day. A CD I had bought when i was about 14 (wow 20 years ago that's crazy). I'll leave you with the song i was humming all the way home and i hope you have fun carving your pumpkins...
Every year around Halloween we head down to Essington farm to pick our Halloween pumpkins for carving. Last year because of all the bad weather all the crops had been rained off and there was none to pick (sad faces all round). So this year we phoned ahead to see if there were pumpkins for picking. They don't start their tractor ride to the field until next week but they said we could make our own way up there and pick away.
Not the best of days for traipsing around a muddy farm but then that sums us up, picking out door activities to do on the wrong days. It's only a bit of rain though and we make our own fun whether its sunny or gloomy. We made it to the pumpkin field and despite the 'no entry' sign on the gate we headed in, we had been told it was okay after all.
The boys picked a pumpkin each and we brushed them off as best we could and put them in a bag to take them to the farm shop. Opeie's little pumpkin was so cute and were going to do something extra fun with that one.
And then we got told off by a farmer, oops! Apparently we were not supposed to be in that field until next week but we explained that we had phoned ahead of the visit and was told it was okay. Trust us to cause trouble wherever we go. The friendly farmer was fine though and apologised for the confusion.
Well our pumpkins have been brought now so next is a bit of creativity, stay tuned for what we actually use our pumpkins for, should be fun.
Yesterday was our first day of the summer holiday with Seth because of him being away. Mrs M woke up and came in to us in the morning and mentioned going to Essington farm for some PYO fun. We went a few weeks back but Seth wasn't with us and missed out on the fun, plus they didn't have much in season. Mrs M had completely run out of her beloved beets and I was low on greens for juicing so we got ready and headed out.
It was a sunny morning but as soon as we pulled away in the car it started to rain, typical. We debated turning around but Mrs M was in a positive mood and said 'let's just go', luckily when we arrived at Essington the rain was just coming to a halt and the sun had definitely got his hat on (hip hip hip hooray). There was plenty more in season this time round so after filling a basket with beets we moved on to the onion field (yummy). Seth doesn't like onions but as long as he got to pull something out of the ground or rip something off a tree he was in his element.
We soon moved over to the raspberry field and Mrs M turned in to a gannet. Stuffing her face like they were going out of fashion, that was until PC Seth pointed out that she needed to pay for those before consumption. This was followed by Mrs M shiftily sneaking them every time Seth wasn't looking (never underestimate Shropshires finest I wouldn't put a citizens arrest past him).
Me and Opeie walked off up the field and I spotted what I thought was a grasshopper jumping through the grass but when I bent down to have a closer look i realised it was the smallest little frog I had ever seen. He was adorable, Opeie was excited and kept repeating 'Ribbit' and Seth told us he wanted a pet frog. Mrs M offered to pitch him a tent up there so he could live there but he thankfully declined.
We spent a good hour or so picking and our baskets were full of raspberries, onions, beet root, gooseberries and peas it was a good little haul and should keep us covered for the next few days at least. We do go through so much veg though that I'm sure we will need to visit again soon.
Its great having Seth with us during the week, we always feel a little guilty when were out doing things and he's cooped up in school. we will certainly do our best to make sure he has a fun holiday while he's with us. As for me and Opeie, well were always joined at the hip but he's clearly a much happier boy now that his big brother is here to look after him.
