Chris
and I find traditions very important.
There are just certain things you do at certain times. We are not dogmatic or regimented about them –
we simply love traditions because they are fun and provide a fantastic excuse
to take a break and go do something together as a family.
Last Saturday we packed up Benjamin and
headed over to Craven Farm in our beloved Snohomish so that Benjamin could having
his first experience with picking out the all-important Halloween pumpkin.
We had no illusions that he would actually
know what Halloween was, or care about a pumpkin as anything more than one of
about a billion toys covering the whole festival area, but we knew the
experience itself would be great fun for him, and memorable at the very least
for us. We were not disappointed. 
Craven Farm is nestled in Snohomish’s farmlands
(being a farm, this of course makes sense), and with the day being right in
line with most of this fall so far (weather-wise), the place absolutely
sparkled. You walk into a clean open
area surrounded by various barn-like outbuildings, with wood chips underfoot,
and pumpkins and gourds of every size, shape, and color strewn all about the
yard, along with chrysanthemums, a couple fair-food stands, and plenty of
contraptions for kids to crawl into and over while parents snap endless
photos. We of course were among
them.
I think at first when we put down,
he was incredulous that he could run free, relatively uninhibited, and was shy
at first.
That lasted about five
minutes. And then he was everywhere,
which was Ok because they place is extremely kid friendly.
They even have a little petting zoo, so Ben
got to see kittens, bunnies, goats, geese, chickens, and ducks, all of which he
joyfully named “wa-wa’s”. (That’s
Ben-ese for cat, and really any other pet-like animal).
We never did get a pumpkin, which we expected
– by the time Ben had enjoyed every toy there, he was exhausted and never would
have lasted in the line, even though it moved pretty quickly. We packed him back up in the car and he was
asleep inside two minutes. We picked up
a pumpkin at the local farm stand by our house, and he just slept.
A very good recipe for a successful nap, if
you ask me!
