Fall has shown up right on time for us Northwestern Iowans this year. Bright yellow leaves began falling from the trees yesterday and I’ve happily traded in my flip-flops for flats. To welcome autumn we made the short trek to the Center Creek Orchard in Fairmont last weekend. Emerson was excited to look for the rarest pumpkin of all, which she called the ‘Arabella Pumpkin.’ I haven’t quite figured out what influenced this imaginative name, but we sure loved all the hype over the one perfect pumpkin that she would find amongst hundreds. The funny thing was that we came home empty-handed — still looking for that Arabella!

Even with a variety of fun activities to choose from, most of our time was spent enthusiastically at 1 of 3 activities: the burlap rug slide, the barrel train, and the petting zoo. The slide was pretty fast – I admit I didn’t mind climbing the hill repeatedly to zoom down!

E insisted on sliding and riding over and over again, but we did manage to wander through the haunted forest, play in hay bales, and stop for a few photo-ops before the end of the trip. All in all it was a great way to spend one of the last summer afternoons of the year!