Fall Flop

I love fall.  No, it's not because the air is crisp or there is dew on the grass every morning or I get to pull out every pumpkin recipe I've ever seen and pretend I'm on some sort of homestead (okay, maybe it's a little of those things). The real reason I love fall - it gets dark early.  I don't have to spend an hour convincing my daughter that it's nighttime while the sun is streaming through her window.  I also don't have to listen to her yelling from her bed, "But Mom, it's still MORNING time."  I just get her in her jammies and off she goes.

But early darkness has its drawbacks.  Last week, we decided to head out to a little self-serve pumpkin patch to ramp up our fall decor.  We left the house around dusk, confident we'd have plenty of time to pick out some gourds.  Yeah, that was a poor plan.

We got out of the car and were immediately overwhelmed with piles and piles of multi-colored squash.It was only then I realized my mistake.  We were about to embark on a fun, precious adventure and I couldn't see a damn thing.

That being said, I wasn't going to give up that easily.  I tried to take a few pictures of Morgan digging around for the "perfect baby pumpkin" only to discover that I could barely make her out against the bales of hay. 

I know it's hard to tell, but that is Morgan in the back, not an oversized acorn squash. 
I repeat, my daughter is not a squash. 

Then I had a brilliant idea -- turn on my headlights!  Not only could I capture my daughter as she stacked her little pumpkins, but I could see just what the hell we were buying.  Right then, David hauled over this big guy and asked me if it was a keeper.  Morgan, quick to demonstrate her feats of strength, tried to pick him up.  It didn't work, but we are now getting her checked for a hernia.

Then she decided to climb him, which was also a bad idea.  Turns out pumpkins are relatively round and not so full of flat surfaces. 

By now it was totally dark and my headlights alone weren't cutting it.  In a final, desperate attempt to document Morgan's joy in hunting pumpkins, I turned on my high beams and made her sit on the damn thing.  That turned out totally natural (don't worry, the blindness only lasted a few minutes). 

  

I am pleased to report the fall field trip wasn't a total flop. We spent $19 on random pumpkins and I had the rare opportunity to spend 15 minutes chasing my kid around in the dark, yelling at her that it wasn't safe to eat the dried corn.   Not surprisingly, she adamantly disagreed and proceeded to show me how you can eat it, "See Mom, just like food!" Yes, Morgan, that's what I want you to remember from tonight.  Your mother, chasing you around like a crazy person while you sucked on Indian corn like it was a strawberry lollipop. Not my vision for this little event.  Not at all.

Oh yeah, looks like the headlights were on for this pic, too. Go figure.