A Visit to Pappy's Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago, I received an email from my Aunt Judy about Bell Family Farm. Think small town, old school, family owned pumpkin patch. It was exactly the kind of place I'd been looking for, so we called up our buddies Janet and Clint, and Mark and Sheila, told them to load up Jackson and Sadie's buddies Reed, Eli and Josiah and headed out to Pappy's Pumpkin Patch. In a word, this place is fabulous.

It is just outside the Loop in Tyler, down a bumpy road and across the street from a new housing development...and yet, when you see the cars parked in the grass in front of the green barn, you just sortof know it's the real deal. For those of us who love those Kodak moments, this place has tons before you even get through the door.

And as soon as we made it out the back door (the barn is filled with unique varieties of pumpkins as well as other fall/Christmas gift items) the kids were in full-on farm fun mode.


Everything here is free. Yes. Well, almost. Face painting is cheap. Fish food, 25 cents. And of course, the pumpkins. But the kiddie train?

The one that made my daughter smile like this while it was STANDING STILL?

FREE.

The kids actually sat in the train for a while, waiting for the driver to fix the tractor that pulled it. But when it became clear that whatever ailed the tractor might not be fixed soon, the kids moved on to other things. Like the rubber ducky races at the water pumps.
And the play set. Let me just say that my daughter loved loved loved sliding down this slide. A hundred times.




The face painting was just too tempting to resist. The ladies wielding the paintbrushes were super talented and while we waited our turns, we watched kiddos walk in the tent and super heroes, animals, and fairies walk out. I was so proud of how good the boys were during their transformations...sitting still as rocks and doing exactly as they were told.

Jackson was super (no pun intended...oh, who am I kidding?) excited about the end result:

While we waited for the hayride to return from the pumpkin patch, we took a wagon ride to the pond to feed fish and dress scarecrows. Or children. Details.

Finally, our turn on the hayride arrived, and the kids were, well...see for yourself:

The pumpkin patch itself was its very own Kodak moment. Or two. Or twelve...

Jackson wore his John Deere boots on this excursion, which are two sizes too big. Turns out he was a big fan of that little flaw, because he could kick them off at any given moment. And apparently there's nothing more relaxing than kicking back with your buddies in the middle of a bunch of pumpkins.
Right before we headed home, miracle of miracles, the kiddie train started running. Sadie was happy to just watch, but Jackson, Eli and Reed couldn't possibly leave without taking one last ride!

This is the kind of place where family traditions are born.

See you next year, Pappy!