adventures in arizona: pumpkin patch

so recently i've decided to explore arizona more. let me explain. i'm still coming to terms with the fact that we live here. my mindset my freshman year at the university of arizona was "four years and get back out". i had moved here from seoul, south korea..one of the busiest and biggest cities in the world. i took public transportation everywhere, there was always people around which made me feel safe, korea experiences four seasons, and i love a good city. tucson is pretty much the anti of all these things and i was determined not relocate after college. fast forward four years and i'm married and my husband has a job here..so we buy a house..and suddenly i feel like i'm trapped (especially since the housing market crashed shortly after).

don't get me wrong. i haven't been hating everyday of my life here. mostly just when it is unbearably hot do i think these thoughts. but after a hike last year i commented on the BEAUTIFUL sunset. dave turns to me and responds "that sunset has been here for eight years". so i've decided that as a family we will be exploring more of what arizona has to offer. and now that the weather is cooling down (here and there) i think its the perfect time to start.

we've been going to agua linda farms in amado, arizona for the past couple years and i'm glad we went back this year. to the typical hayride around the pumpkin patch, pony rides (for an additional $5/ride), and petting zoo they added a jumping castle and mini corn maze this year. we have yet to join them for their movie nights on friday and saturday night, but next year we might settle in for the kid friendly movie. their food is pretty delicious and i was particularly impressed this year. i was holding my freshly made onion rings (yum), while beniah carried his hot dog basket over to get some ketchup when i hear "mama, it fell, it fell!". i turn around and his hot dog had come unraveled from his paper and was upside down on the dirt. i was not going to buy another one-i was out of fun money-but i felt bad. i knelled down to talk with him about it and one of the workers came over and took the hot dog from me and said, "lets get you another one." i think beniah was prepared for me to tell him that we weren't going to get another one because he teared up right away and fell into my shoulder. after a second to calm him down i told him they were getting him a new hot dog. his thank you to the man who showed up with a fresh one was truly genuine-and so was mine. my standard for great customer service is pretty high since i am in the customer service business and they definitely won my business for the next coming years.

my delicious fresh onion rings

his fresh hot dog w/ketchup :)

there were crickets all over..i think b looks like a pumpkin here haha 

on the hayride w/uncle phil

the cousins and their pumpkins :)

in years past i haven't actually purchased our pumpkins there. beniah was too little to even realize if we left without one and i always thought they were overpriced. but as we were exiting i stopped to pick out two because they were actually cheaper than what i had seen at the grocery stores and i choose to put our money into a local business. and although i tried to encourage beniah to pick out a big one for himself-he choose a baby pumpkin (well, two actually..i gave in-they were so little!)