The Mommy Pumpkin and other tales

So a week ago or more, I hinted that we would be going to another place to get a "Mommy" pumpkin to go with the "Daddy" and "Daughter" pumpkins. My sister-in-law Jess has pointed out that I've left you hangin' about getting the mommy pumpkin, and I have, because relating the story of going to get the mommy pumpkin is going to take a long time. SO settle down for a good read, people, because here goes:

Several weeks ago we found out that in the nearby town of Fillmore, where they have antique trains, there is a "Pumpkinliner" train that will take you out to an exclusive pumpkin patch and back on a real, live, delight-a-toddler train ride. It sounded so great, so we bought tickets, and so did the Kropfs. Then, when Greg's grandfather passed away, we realized Greg would miss out on the train day, but what can ya do? The train ride was scheduled for Saturday, and Greg was due home late that night, so by Saturday morning I was feeling pretty tired (especially because Addie couldn't go to sleep the night before because she missed Daddy too much and was in tears). I guess the tiredness was why I forgot my cell phone at home, but when I realized that, I just figured I'd be with the Kropfs all morning and it would be fine.

Our plan was to ride the 10:00am train, get back, grab some lunch, and get the kids home for a nap. So Addie and I arrived at the train depot excited, and rushed to get out of the car and find the Kropfs. We did, boarded the train, and enjoyed a marvelous 40 minute ride to the pumpkin patch.

And that's when things turned ugly.

When we got sight of the "Pumpkin Patch" (and I use that term loosely), we were a bit disappointed. It was a small area next to the highway, with a few pumpkins, a dilapidated old carousel, some bounce houses, and connected to a little roadside nursery that sold ceramic pots. Not what we had in mind. Also, it was very crowded when the hundreds of people from the train piled off. We tried to find an un-crowded spot and decide what to do.

We quickly came to the conclusion we didn't want to stay long and checked out the train schedule to see when we could leave. And this is when it sank in that there was one train, going back and forth on one set of tracks, and if the ride is 40 minutes each way, there weren't a lot of options for trains back to the train depot. Therefore, it seemed we could catch the train back which left almost immediately, or we would be stuck for two hours. We were also in line for lunch, because our little kiddos were getting hungry. Brooke went to go check with the train, to make sure we had figured this all out correctly. It didn't seem like it could be right. She came quickly around the corner telling us "the train is leaving NOW!" and we ducked out of line and took about 5 steps toward the train when we saw, in disbelief, that it was chugging away down the tracks. A great gray cloud of unhappiness settled over we three as we watched our hope of escape leaving.

Having nothing else to do, we spent the next few hours eating $4 hot dogs while loud, hideous, music blared over our heads. It was a classy mix of 60's country, Barry Manilow, and "Thriller." We began to break into silly, giddy laughter, which is common when one is slowly losing their sanity. We laughed harder when the kids rode the carousel, and Grant's giant chicken was broken. We endured the "hay ride" around the neighboring Christmas Tree farm. I changed a diaper in a porta-potty. Finally, the train returned, we happily boarded, and headed home. It was way past nap time, but our kids had managed to hold it together and were doing a great job. I fantasized of getting home to an air-conditioned house and letting Addie watch movies all afternoon, or what was left of it.

It was just after we got off the train and said "see you at home!" to the Kropfs that I realized I didn't remember putting my car keys in the bag. A frantic search confirmed my worst thoughts- they were in my purse, which I'd left in the car. You know how you feel reading this right now? I felt that way, times ten. (And remember? I had no cell phone)

Thankfully, I caught the Kropfs before they left, and after a while of figuring out what we should do, Brooke and their cell phone stayed with me, while Chris took Grant home for a nap. No AAA, so I called a locksmith. They told me someone would be there in 30 minutes, so we sat down to wait. Thankfully, I was parked next to a big stretch of grass, near a public restroom and an ice cream shop. Can't get better than that.

It was an hour before I finally heard from the locksmith, and he informed me it would cost $185 dollars to let me into my car. My early ideas of breaking one of the car windows suddenly seemed a lot smarter. I said "Um, no thanks" and presumed upon my friends even further. Oh, have I mentioned that Brooke had a cold? And that they were having people over for Chris' birthday that night and she was supposed to be home making his birthday cake? Yeah, I felt like a big idiot.

So we called Chris and he managed to get the apartment managers to let him into my apartment, get my spare keys, and another set of neighbors, the Murrays, volunteered to drive them out to Fillmore for me. In the meantime, our good friends the Myers' had come out for a train ride themselves, in the afternoon, and had left for the pumpkin patch with warnings not to stay. So while Brooke and I waited for someone to drive the keys out to us, the Myers arrived back from the pumpkin patch and were surprised to fund us still there!

So there we were, sitting in the shade next to my car, Ben & Jen Myers, their kids, their visiting parents, Brooke, and Addie and I. Ben and his father-in-law gave a good effort at breaking into my car. No luck.







We ended up getting ice cream and sitting in the grass.












That was when we were visited by a neighborhood dog, wearing a giant plastic ring around his head (what are those things called?) because he has some sort of funk on his backside. His rumpus was all shaved and nasty and he tried to show affection to each of us, but the big plastic collar kept him from getting to anyone. Again, there was more hysterical laughter, as the day got stranger and longer. Addie finally konked out on my shoulder and got a 20 minute nap.



The Murrays arrived with the keys, and I happily took them to the car. It was then I realized that there should be two car keys on that ring, one for my car and one for Greg's, and I only saw one. Hoping it was the right key, I put it in the lock and then..... began to cry. I was the wrong key. I thought I had held it together pretty well up until then, but I was so tired and knowing that I had inconvenienced half my neighbors and now STILL couldn't get into my car was more than I could handle.

Thankfully, I had asked Chris, just in case, to grab every set of keys in the apartment and THANKFULLY, out of character, Greg had left his keys home while he was gone, and we had his set of keys which DID have a key to the car on it! We got in! It was 5 pm. We had arrived at 10am.


Here's Addie, who was ready to drive the car herself if she could just go home!













It was a rough day, but I had to thank the Lord for many blessings along the way. The Kropfs were with me, Addie did great, we had a safe and comfortable place to wait with bathrooms and even ice cream. I have great neighbors who go out of their way to help when needed. God took good care of us.

Needless to say, when I picked Greg up at the airport that night and he asked "how was the train today?" I laughed and told him it was a loooong story. The next morning when Addie saw Greg for the first time I asked her to tell Daddy what she did yesterday. She said, "We went to the park (the grass next to the car) and I had ice cream and there was a doggy!" Thnakfully, she came away unscathed by the incident.

Oh yeah, we didn't get a mommy pumpkin.