The $500 Pumpkin

To say that today was an adventure is putting it mildly. Trent and I had planned a family day trip to Apple Annie's several months ago. We wanted to take Ty to a pumpkin patch to pick his pumpkin for Halloween this year. A few days ago, Trent found out he had to attend a training at work and couldn't play with us today. I convinced my sister to come with me so we could still pick our pumpkins off the vine.

Our adventure began right from the start. I overslept and picked up Nichol and her girls late. I also underestimated how long it would take to get to Willcox. Savannah suffered from a little carsickness and tossed her cookies in the backseat. Sydney had a near catastrophe from a full bladder. Then we drove through a crazy and intense rainstorm. But finally, we arrived at the orchard.

Just as we pulled in to the orchard, the rain picked up again. It quickly turned into a hailstorm. We waited most of it out, but still got drenched during our quick sprint from the car to the gift shop. Once it passed, we enjoy delicious apple smoked burgers and bought 6 versions of homemade fudge. Yes, 6.

Savannah, Ty, Nichol

Next we drove over to the pumpkin patch for the main attraction...handpicking our pumpkins! By this time, Ty was cranky and longed to be free of my ever constant grip. While we waited for our turn on the hayride out to the fields, the kids played in the tubs of corn and on hay bales.

Ty and Sydney

All of us had loverly hair after the rainstorm.
Not a comb could be found the entire day.

Ty's first choice. He couldn't lift it, so he had to make another choice.

He laid on this one for a while, resting his weary legs.

So many pumpkins to choose from!

Ty raised his arms up every time the wind began to blow.
He's thanking the heavens for cooler weather.

Ty and Savannah
I just love this picture. My nieces dote on Ty and love him so much!

Ty and Sydney
Checking out the tractor.

Rows and rows of beautiful sunflowers.

Resting in a cart while we paid for the pumpkins.

Here's where the adventure truly begins. On our trek back to Phoenix, only 10 miles or so out of Willcox, we had a tire blow out. I pulled to the side of the interstate, somewhat in shock, when my sister laughed out loud. It had been such a crazy day already that this was just unbelievable. It was just the reaction I needed from her. Instead of panicking (or crying), we pulled out the car manual and looked up how to change a tire. Neither of us have ever had to do this before, but my sister proved to be a pro. I said a silent prayer, several times, that we would be able to do this on our own. I threw in a request that I not go in to labor, just for good measure. That would have really iced the cake. It took us more time to dislodge the jack from it's mount than it did to put the spare tire on. My sister = my hero. I should have taken a picture of her in action. Her husband would be proud.

Though we could have made it home on the spare, Trent decided to meet us in Tucson. My knight in shining armor (or in Trent's case, shining khaki) sped down and took control. We sent Nichol and the girls home in the "good" car and found a Costco to replace the tire. They told us we'd have a two hour wait, so we perused the aisles of Costco slowly, leisurely, and were able to examine every item on each shelf - twice if desired. This was one of our favorite discoveries in the Christmas aisle. And NO, Trent was not responsible for this mischievous deed. We chuckled, out loud. Someone had remedied the situation by our second loop around the store.

We all took a turn testing out the massage chair.

Two hours later, with 4 new tires and a splurge on this holiday movie,
we were finally on the road.

An outing that was expected to last about 6 hours turned into a 15 hour day. BUT, it served as a strong reminder that attitude is everything! Not a tear was shed (by me) in frustration, panic, or even exhaustion; in fact laughter was abundant as the day progressed. In fact, the whole adventure was really quite fun, even though it was less than ideal.

4 new tires, two tanks of gas, lunch, dinner, and admission ($3) for the hayride to the fields for two pumpkins that totaled $9
= $500ish

Spending the day with my sister and our kids
Picking our own pumpkins
Having my sweet husband come to the rescue
Listening to Ty giggle as he watched Snoopy for the first time on the ride home
= Priceless

Next year, we may head back to Mother Nature's Farm (5 miles away) just as a precaution. :)