Sunday, October 12, 2014

Gilcrease Orchard, Year #3


The month of October is always one of our favorites, because it marks the start of the holiday season!  One of my absolute favorite places to go during the fall is Gilcrease Orchard.  This year marks our third year going, and I knew it would be our best year since it would be Nolan's first time!  (See our second year here, and our first year here!)  I was hoping it would feel a bit more like fall, but the Vegas heat is still hanging around, and despite our attempt to look fall-y, we definitely worked up a sweat cutting our pumpkins, pushing a stroller and pulling a wagon.  It was actually so hot, we had to take Nolan's helmet off, which explains his round noggin' making an appearance in these pictures!  But, despite the heat, it was all worth it!  

We decided to leave during Nolan's nap and let him sleep in the car on the drive up to the farm, since it is a good 40 minute drive.  He slept the whole time and was SO excited to see that we were somewhere new and exciting when he woke up!  When we got there, we somehow snagged a lonely wagon (which made for awesome pictures) and walked down to the pumpkin patch!  Nolan wasn't too sure what to think about the pumpkins initially.  He refused to let go of either of our hands and was super hesitant to touch them, but once he realized they weren't going anywhere, he loved them!  There were a ton of huge pumpkins as well as tiny, itty bitty ones, all still connected to the vine, so we took pictures, walked around, and searched for our perfect ones.  Jason found his first, falling into his "criteria" of being oddly shaped and just gross looking.  We found a smaller, perfectly orange one for Harley next, and then Nolan picked one that's half the size of himself!  He also picked up two tiny pumpkins, and the tiniest one he held our entire trip through the pumpkin patch.  He loved it so much, he would sit in the wagon or in his stroller and talk to it!  Finally, after searching forever, I found my favorite, and we made our way back to the long line to cash out.  We made a pit stop in the fruit orchard to take some more pictures of Nolan and his pumpkins, and he ended up hating the grass that we sat him on.  After a few whines and tears, he gave us more smiles while sitting on top of his mound of pumpkins.  I'm slightly obsessed with all the great pictures we got throughout the day!




 

 




















 

 

 












When we got in line, we figured it would be quite a wait, so I decided to walk down to the other entrance to get some apple cider donuts and pear cider while Jason checked out.  We both waited in line for about thirty minutes... but it was totally worth it!  I took more pictures of the farm and silly Nolan who was being such a good babe waiting in his stroller, entertaining himself and slightly falling asleep.  Once we were done waiting in line and back to the car, Nolan had passed out and slept the entire ride home.  I was anxious to let him try the donuts, so I saved one (that's love, right there.. I don't share those donuts with just anyone!) for him to try at home when he woke up.  








 



When we got home, the boys played with their pumpkins and Nolan showed Harley all the cool things you can do with a pumpkin: bang on it like a drum, hit it with another pumpkin, lick it, hug it, etc.  Once they were done playing, Nolan tried his donuts for the first time and enjoyed them!  We took some Mommy and Nolan pictures and finally, some pictures of our pumpkins all set up on the front porch, ready to welcome the season.



 





 



 





Our trip to the orchard was everything I expected it to be with Nolan, and I loved getting some amazing pictures to help remember his first time pumpkin picking.  We love that we have made this a tradition for our family and can't wait to make more memories each year!  

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