Pumpkin patch

The weekend after Ruth and Steve were here, we all headed to a pumpkin patch with Ivy, Liam, Jenny and Billy, our Foreign Service neighbors from up the street. It was an interesting day -- sunny and deceptively warm in the sun, but it got colder later. As it turned out, we had been there with Charon, Wes and Cameron the first year we arrived in D.C., which was a bit disappointing because I had hoped to discover a new pumpkin patch -- but we made the most of it.

The kids were immediately drawn to the long slide and the barn with piles of hay; it got all over Rachel's hair and new sweater and pants I'd just bought in a gigantic shopping expedition to finish out her fall wardrobe. We all split up to get the various food we wanted; I got butternut squash soup that a BEE flew into; smoked beef; and a caramel apple (which Rachel, regretfully, did not like) while the kids got hot dogs. After a while, Billy, Jenny and Liam headed back to let their new dog, Flannel, outside, and we agreed to keep Ivy until early evening. While I waited on an extraordinarily long line for us all to get our faces painted (Rachel insisted on me getting mine painted, and I told her I'd match her peacock design), Drew took the girls on a pumpkin carriage ride and to a few other things. We got our faces painted, and then the girls separated from Drew and me as we all walked through a big maze. The only thing we didn't get to do was to take a hayride through the fields for an actual pumpkin, which we ended up getting at the pumpkin patch's store on the way out.

It's a lot of fun to be able to take outings with other families, and that weekend looked like it was going to be the last vaguely sunny and warm one, so we made the most out of it.