Pumpkins: The Tradition Continues

This weekend we took my in-laws out to Garson's Pick Your Own Farm in Esher, Surrey. The whole thing was a brilliant day out. This is our fourth time out as a family (my fifth as I took Victoria when she was here) and as always, we really enjoyed it. At least, I assume the Husband enjoyed it: he was smiling. I always love coming here...getting to wander around the farm store and the PYO fields makes my day.

pre-shoes be darned, he wanted to walk in the mud!

Ethan thoroughly enjoyed his time getting to run around with the pumpkins. He especially enjoyed our walk out of the fields when he stopped to eat some raspberries with Mimi (his grandmother).

Once our carving pumpkin had been picked out it was time to check out the stores that are also on site. We picked out a few mutant squash to decorate the house with (you'll see them in pictures of E's birthday party) and my mother-in-law grabbed me a few tins of pureed pumpkin to bake with. Oh the joy!

browsing the wide selection

E's picked his favourite pumpkin.

After that it was on to the Christmas ornaments. Yeah...it may only be October, but that's still my jam. The Gisela Graham displays at Garson's are amazing. I covet them just a little bit. Of course, while we were looking at ornaments, the Husband was taking E around the toy section to keep him entertained. Hence, the cute picture of the cuddly rhino. How sweet is he!? E has started getting really cuddly over the past couple of months: he hugs us, but now he also hugs some of his toys. He'll rest his head on the shoulder of his sock monkey, or a baby doll at play group, and then wrap his arms around it, squeeze, and then pat its back. We're inordinately entertained by this every time he does it.

the world's sweetest little boy choosing a puppet to take home

In the end, everyone was volunteering their opinions on the best puppet to buy as E's early birthday present. A lion! No, the kitty cat! No, the dog! Ooh: the fuzzy alligator! None of these were bad suggestions, though I still humbly submit that mine was the best: a penguin.

E has two books that he owns that feature a boy and his penguin: Up and Down and Lost and Found, both by Oliver Jeffers. He loves these books, and has another book out from the library at the moment - Me by Emma Dodd - that also features a penguin. That was enough to sell me on the idea that he needed a penguin more than any other animal. So now, that's what lives in his crib with his sock monkey and a teddy bear.

Later on, the Husband and I will figure out how we're carving this year's pumpkin. Last year it was the inscription from the One Ring. Yup: we're nerds and we love it. How much more appropriate would that have been this year with The Hobbit coming out at Christmas!? Who's excited? This kid right here.