The Challenge: Get A Pumpkin Photo
Back in 2009, when I first met my now husband, Eric, he was playing banjo for a bluegrass band in Connecticut; one of our first weekends together he took me to see a show, and the leader of the band said, “You better not take him back to Long Island for good!” We had just started dating, so it was slightly embarrassing…but low and behold, 5 months later we moved in together, on Long Island.
Five years later, we decided it was time to head back to the vineyard and see the old band; luckily, our visit to Connecticut was during the Harvest Festival! We were excited to introduce Weston to everyone, eat some BBQ, and see pumpkins. On the ride to the vineyard it dawned on me that this was the perfect time to complete Rookie Moms challenge #36, take a pumpkin photo! Heather and Whitney claim that you can’t take a bad photo in a pumpkin patch, and I’m going to one-up them and claim that you can’t take a bad photo in the Autumn! The green grass, the leaves, the perfect setting sun…everyone looks their best (even with BBQ sauce all over their face!).
Mommy’s Little Extrovert
Weston was a dream baby in the long car ride, and once we got out at the vineyard, his eyes opened wide: children, pumpkins, llamas! We met up with Eric’s old band, and it felt wonderful to finally introduce the little one to people who knew us back when we were newly dating. We planted ourselves right near the band and got some delicious pulled pork to eat for lunch. Weston happily sat in his stroller, pushed up against the table (highchair hack), and when the band started to play, he clapped and shouted like a regular!
However, the poor kid nearly lost his mind when Daddy unzipped his gig bag and took out his banjo. Weston started yelling, “gra! gra!” (Which, I think means guitar and is his word for any instrument?). He struggled to get out of his stroller, and when Eric started playing with the band, little monster boy ran right up to his dad on stage! Everyone in the harvest festival thought he was hysterical, and when Weston danced, everyone danced with him! Talk about raising an extrovert”¦
Stop and Eat the Flowers
After Eric played a few songs with the band, we all went to visit the llamas together. Weston got to pet them, and kept looking back at me with “this is not a dog?” eyes. Since there wasn’t an actual pumpkin patch to wade through, we made the most of the large green field of pumpkins out and about.
Weston thought it would be a good idea to go over to a pumpkin and play, but when I looked back at him, he had a flower in his mouth. The poor little purple leaves sticking out; he made a disgusted face, and I nodded, yes, that is disgusting. We did get him finally, to sit and take a lovely Fall photo with the pumpkin…it took a little prodding, but now we have photographic evidence of our wonderful autumn afternoon. And, really, does life even happen if you don’t have photographic evidence to post on Instagram? I think not.
[All photos: Olivia Lovely Howell]
Find more baby activities for any season with the 52 weekly rookie mom challenges.
If you’re already participating, use hashtag #rookiemoms on instagram or twitter so we can cheer each other on.
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