A day at the pumpkin patch

With Grandma Idaho and Papa visiting, we went to a nearby pumpkin patch, where we learned and experienced a number of new things:

1) If you don't dress for the cold in Kansas, you WILL regret it.

2) Wind is the least pleasant of the elements.

3) Exploring the pumpkins on the vine with a 4-year-old leads to lots of discussions about the meaning of such terms as "rotting" and "decaying."

4) Pumpkins are actually a fruit. To the children's dismay, so are many of their VeggieTale friends. Yes, 'tis true: Larry, Bob, and the gourd friends are not real veggies at all! Childhood trust destroyed...

5) We watched a pumpkin get launched from a cannon and fly about a half mile in the air (Amberly looks rightly confused by this one). This was a big favorite among all the dads at the patch, sort of their reward for being patient with the other stuff.

6) Kansas wind is no good for corn mazes. They end up looking more like corn dominoes after someone's tipped them over.

7) Safety regulations are a bit more lax once you leave the litigious land of Southern California. In our case, that meant way more fun for the kids--toboggan runs through tunnels in the hills, train rides with no track and no seatbelts, climbing up and jumping down haystacks with hay slipping down all over...

8) The crowning moment: we saw the Prairie Chicken Capital of the World. Now how many of you all can say you've done THAT?!!