The Patch

It was quite an adventure yesterday. We attempted to return to a great pumpkin patch at Irvine Park. A large group went last year, and a terrific time was had with trains, picnics, and pumpkins. A repeat performance was planned, and Uncle [b] was along to document.

Unfortunately, mother nature did not cooperate. The Santa Ana winds were in full force, causing numerous falling trees. There might as well have been a giant moose at the gate saying, "Sorry, folks. Park's closed." Since the park was shut down (good thing....more on that in a minute), we went to a different patch at the Laguna Hills Mall.

To put it mildly, Cade was not the most enthusiastic model. April, Chris, and myself were reduced to bribing Cade with Skittles for a good shot. We tried to get him to smile for the camera, but here is the reaction we received:

But once he warmed up, Cade was a little more at ease. Who doesn't like driving a tractor?
He even managed to have a seat on a couch of pumpkins.
Cade was a big fan of the petting zoo.
Notice the top left corner of the goat picture. You can see the orange haze of the Santiago Canyon Fire. It is one of the dozen or so major fires in Southern California. The crazy thing about it is that we were in that exact same area approximately 30 minutes before it started (or rather deliberately set). Irvine Park is just minutes away from the fire. If the park had been open, we would have been in possible danger.

After the pumpkin patch, we settled upon Island's for dinner. As soon as Cade put some french fries in his belly, the ol' charmer came out. Apparently, we should have eaten before going to the pumpkins. There might have been some more funny faces from the Little Man.

Check tomorrow for some above average photos of the pumpkin patch. I will pilfer some shots of Uncle [b]'s blog. Or you can go to the blog yourself: www.beckersblog.com. You can see the difference between weak sauce, crapped out photos and the real deal.