Mo, Mo Pumpkins, Mommy!

This is the phrase I heard at least 103 times on Saturday while Jonathan, my mom and I attended the Pumpkin Festival this weekend in Milton, WV. For some reason, Jonathan always says "mo" (translation: more) twice. He's done it pretty much since the first time he said the word and I still think it's endearing.
This was my first time at the Pumpkin Festival despite the fact that I grew up in the area. I was pretty impressed with it--tons of fair food, some really good arts and crafts and, of course, pumpkins! The only things I would have changed were the weather-it was over 90 degrees-and the traffic, as waiting in a forever long line of cars for upwards of an hour was not my idea of a good time. I am definitely happy we went, though, as Jonathan really enjoyed himself and, as a bonus, we got to spend some time with Heather and Andrea and their respective families.

The highlight of the festival is, of course, the pumpkins. There is a contest for the largest pumpkin. This year's winner weighed in at 1192 pounds. Even a pumpkin can't carry that much weight well:



Jonathan preferred the more modestly sized pumpkins of the 400ish pound variety. He actually thought he could move them. This was despite the fact that he had previously tried (and failed) to move a pumpkin that could not have weighed more than ten pounds.



There are very conspicuous signs posted advising not to sit on the pumpkins as they are fragile (you can see the signs in the first picture). Now I ask, how fragile can a 378 pound pumpkin be? I threw caution to the wind and plopped my 23 pound two year old on said pumpkin, resulting in this photo op:



While we were perusing the pumpkins, Jonathan suddenly exclaimed "Pumpkin person, Mommy!" Huh? This is what caught his attention:



Heather and I tried to get Hailey and Jonathan to stand still so we could get their picture together. I am not sure about Heather's results, but this is the best I could do:



Even more than the pumpkins, Jonathan enjoyed the tractors they had set up for display. Unlike the pumpkins, there were no signs saying not to sit on them. Not that it would have stopped Jonathan anyway--he climbed right up on there like he knew what he was doing. I am totally going to have to buy him a John Deere ensemble.







We ended the trip by purchasing a handmade wooden tractor for Jonathan which he absolutely loves. An elderly man had a really nice selection of wooden toys and Jonathan immediately said he wanted the tractor. The boy definitely knows what he wants!!