We started our day at home, skipping Dennis' flu shot appointment and having a nice morning to get ready for our big day out. We skipped the shot because a) he's going to the doctor in 2 weeks and can have it then and b) he was up half the night with tooth trouble and we just didn't want to give him another painful experience to add to the teething. We had a nice lunch that David cooked for us and then had to rush out the door to meet the Gallmans in Calera.
We arrived at the train depot to find people EVERYWHERE and we worried that the train was going to be very full. This was not the case, though. We were among the last people to board, and it turns out that many of the large crowd of folks we saw had been on the previous ride. We were pleased with the Pumpkin Patch Train. Our local railroad museum runs train rides every weekend, and during holiday months will run special rides (Easter, Halloween, Christmas...). The train took us through the woods for a while until we arrived at the Pumpkin Patch (which we think was on the back part of the Ozan Winery). Costumed people waved as we were pulling in and greeted everyone getting off the train. There were pumpkins all around, inflatable jumping structures, a hay ride, face painting, pumpkin coloring, and snacks and drinks available. We had elected not to purchase a pumpkin since Dennis had picked out a nice one at our first pumpkin patch visit.
Dennis and Chloe had a great time running around on the grounds and picking out different gourds and squash to show us. Dennis really wanted to climb into the jumping structure but the kids in there were all so much bigger than him, so we didn't let him. He kept running back over there, so David let him walk around and around it, watching the kids inside until he got his fill of the thing. Then we went on a hayride through the vineyards, returned and let the kids play around until it was time to board the train again. Chloe and Dennis enjoyed climbing around on the train seats and looking out the window, and Dennis briefly escaped and headed down the aisle to the front of the train car with David close on his heels. We heard a cry of "loose child!" from one of the train conductors, but he was laughing because David was chasing him pretty close. No harm done, but I wondered how many times in my life I would be the mother of the 'loose child'. Maybe he'll grow out of this running phase?
After the train ride, we shopped for a bit in Alabaster before heading to the Gallmans' home. Once there, we all loaded up in their van and went to Dave's brother's new place for a big cookout and barn dance. Dennis had a great time there, meeting the horses and dancing along to the karaoke singing of many of the guests, clapping his hands every time a new song started up. It was a beautiful night, and Chris has a wonderful big barn, and we all had lots of fun. We were out way too late, compounded by the fact that when we returned to Dave and Ellen's place, we had to check out their beautiful new (to them) pop-up camper. The kids just giggled and climbed all around in it and were reluctant to say goodbye to each other when we finally loaded Dennis in his carseat to come home. He stayed awake for half the ride back, just looking around contentedly. And then he cried hard when we put him to bed, having slowed down enough to finally notice how bad his teeth were hurting him. Once the motrin kicked in, he got to sleep, thank goodness!
This was an unbelievably fun day. I can't think of the last time we smiled and laughed and enjoyed the outdoors so much in one day! Dennis was one happy little man today.
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