Pumpkins in Irvine

We went on our annual fall trip to Tanaka Farms with my mom's group on Friday. Luckily, it wasn't raining, although it was on the warm side. There were a ton of kids there. It seems to have become quite the popular field trip.

First stop: Petting Zoo.


I knew k wouldn't be too excited about petting the animals, but I wasn't sure about n. Turns out he wasn't too thrilled, either. I was kind of freaked out myself when a goat came up to me and chewed my name tag right off my shirt. I guess we're just not animal people.


Then we took the wagon ride tour around the farm. There was no narration, so I like the strawberry farm tour better in that respect. Then they dropped us off by the corn maze. We skipped it, even though they made it a lot shorter, height-wise this year. Parents could actually see over the top, unlike two years ago, when I was wondering if k and I would ever make it out. Instead, we went straight to the u-pick veggies: 4 radishes, 4 carrots, 4 green onions and 4 green beans per child. k had fun with this part, and n kept on wanting to climb over the rope that we were supposed to stay behind.

u-pick carrots that had already been picked. I think it is good for kids (and adults, for that matter) to learn how vegetables are actually grown in the ground. We become so accustomed to just seeing produced bagged up in plastic in the grocery store.

The last part of the outing was the main attraction, the pumpkin patch, of course.



This is the one we ended up bringing home. The rule is that the kid is supposed to be able to carry the pumpkin she picks herself. They're not too strict with enforcement, but I was surprised when someone actually asked if she could carry it as we were leaving the exit.


n, on the the other hand, seemed to enjoy picking up the pumpkins and dropping them on the ground. Luckily, no damage was done to the pumpkins.


Our Little Pumpkin

We've been to Tanaka Farms too many times to count now. However, D still has never gone with us. I'm thinking we should try the watermelon tour next year. When k saw some of the leftover watermelons from the past summer, she commented, "green pumpkins"!