Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we took our annual trip to the Powell Pumpkin Patch south of town.  It had rained the night before and it was chilly, but it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day.  Owen and I both got traditional orange pumpkins.  I tried to get the biggest one I could find and Owen got a tall, skinny one.  Elsie got a dark orange one with warts all over it and Sarah got a white, disk-shaped one.  Fun, fun, fun...

Free hay rides!

The sand box was pretty soggy.  :(

Our house came with a landscaping allowance but it all had to be spent on the front yard, so we got one tree by the street in the front yard and our landscaping around the porch but nothing in the back yard.  Having a completely blank slate to work with is REALLY hard.  You would think it would be easy, but having unlimited options makes it so hard to decide where to plant trees and what kind to get.  Sarah and I are no Arborists so we had to do a lot of research to figure out what we wanted.  We settled on a plan that will provide three shade trees (20yrs from now) in the back yard and we will fill in with some smaller, prettier trees as needed.  The first one we put in was a Redbud.  It was the heaviest because it was the most mature of the bunch.  We ended up having to put it on the kids sled and drag it across the yard!

Yesterday we put in three more trees.  The closest one is an Autumn Blaze Maple and the one Sarah is tending to is a Fruitless Sweetgum.  The Redbud is on the far right.

On the other side of the yard we put a Swamp White Oak (on the left).  

All decorated for Fall with our pumpkins on the front porch.

I mentioned it was a nice day.  Elsie and Owen spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon playing with dump trucks in the dirt just behind our yard.  A perk that our old house did not offer...

I also have to throw in a WAY TO GO MIZZOU & CHIEFS!!!  Both my teams are a month in and haven't lost!  Unbelievable!  

See ya, 

Ryan, Sarah, Elsie, and Owen