This is the first year Colt has been even remotely interested in the excitement and anticipation of holidays. And if he was this excited about Halloween… I cannot wait until Christmas!
Fall means a trip to the pumpkin patch, of course, and I'm beginning to think Northwest Arkansas has gotta have more pumpkin patches and corn mazes per capita than anywhere in the country. Every year there are more of them, popping up all over the place. But even with all the options, we went back to the cute little pumpkin patch we visited last year.
We rode the Pumpkin Wagon out to the pumpkin patch for a bit then headed back to the main area for a little petting zoo action.
He was so sweet with the goats but a little frustrated they didn't want to eat the rocks, sticks and empty corncobs he kept offering.
Almost the entire time we were there, he was distracted by something so thrilling and exciting it could only be…
The Cow Train!
I have NO idea what is so darn appealing to children about these things, but he COULD NOT WAIT to punch his ticket.
And lucky Mama! Adults ride free!
See how the cows in the back half of the train have smaller wheels? The Cow Train driver (conductor?) assured me the small wheels meant a "smoother" ride. After a few minutes in that thing I can't even imagine what the front half felt like! My teeth were rattling out of my head!
Colt didn't stop smiling the entire time.
Officially in the spirit for Halloween and fall!
And not a moment too soon.
Halloween was the only thing on this child's mind for the last several weeks. Well, the costume part anyway. He talked every single day about dressing up as a "fireguy" and about his fire boots and his fire coat and his fire hat. He "practiced" with his costume at home – constantly. And – as you see above in the pumpkin patch photos – the fire boots were his favorite thing EVER.
As is tradition, we went to Nancy's house for a bit of trick-or-treating. The crowd of kids this year was bigger than ever!
Though I guess it's possible the KIDS are getting bigger each year!
We let some of the big kids go on ahead and we set off for some trick-or-treating with our friends, The Riners. They are too cute for words and dressed up as a family: Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma, The Wolf, and the Woodsman.
Judging from last year's level of participation, I was pretty sure Colt would want very little to do with the whole thing and I didn't even bring him a candy bucket. Afterall, trick-or-treating requires approaching strange houses and talking to strange people — and this kid IS a Hood.
So, as expected, we had to drag him to the first few houses and coerce him up to the front door. I told him he wouldn't get any candy if he didn't say "Trick-or-Treat!" and he didn't want to for the first few houses so he went without, and I thought we'd probably just settle in and enjoy a nice walk around Nancy's neighborhood, unconcerned with candy.
But then! He managed a barely audible "Trick-or-treat…" at one of the houses and he got some candy! He stuffed it into one of the pockets on his coat and thanked the lady. He walked back down the sidewalk with a little pep in his step.
Next house. He went right up to the front door with Red and the Wolf and said, "Trick-or-Treat." More candy. Hmm. He turned around toward us and said, "Next house!"
In a matter of minutes, we had gone from coaxing him along the sidewalk to hollering at him to "wait for us, Buddy!"
Way to go Mom, not bringing him a candy bucket… But after his coat pockets and the hood on his jacket were full of candy, he got resourceful!
Happy Halloween to my favorite Fireguy!
