pumpkin {patch}

i have 500+ pictures from istanbul that are calling to me from my iphoto library. the thought of editing them down to something manageable is way too overwhelming right now, so instead i’m playing with some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday.

i use the term “patch” loosely, as that concept (as we know it in the states) doesn’t really exist here. halloween (from what i understand) isn’t a big holiday in germany – you don’t see the costumes and candy and endless orange / black displays in every store front. germany also hasn’t adopted the whole ‘trick or treating’ event, so we’re scrambling to find something fun to do w the chicklets on the thirty-first. stella, of course, has no memory of the holiday, so she would be fine if it just passed by without any fanfare. but piper is ready for the costume and candy and knocking on doors – i may have to coerce some of our friends to let us come by, just so piper’s visions can come to life!

regardless, there sadly aren’t any pumpkin patches as we know them – no hay rides, corn mazes, kettle corn. this is actually the first time that i’ve felt a real sense of missing out by being here. back home halloween is BIG – fun gatherings with friends, the annual sonnenberg harvest party (i’m SO sad to miss it), decorating the house. next year i’ll get a bit more organized and perhaps host my own version of halloween for anyone that wants to join. but in the meantime, i at least needed to capture our traditional halloween picture. and to do so, all i needed was wen, the girls, and some pumpkins.

thankfully a friend mentioned a few weeks ago that there is a pumpkin patch not far from our apartment – so yesterday we bundled up (it’s COLD here!) and went in search of it. after a few wrong turns we finally found it – and realized it was literally just someone’s private pumpkin farm. we crossed our fingers that no one would yell at us for trespassing, and dove right in.

the girls LOVED stomping through the dirt and pumpkins and open field – it was such a beautiful, perfect, crisp fall day. we laughed a lot and took some pictures and ended up muddy and frozen but super satisfied with our deutschland pumpkin patch farm experience.

happy sunday to all of you. hope it’s beautiful. xo.

and a quick trip down memory lane …