bah, hallo-bug.

confession:  in all honesty, i really don't care for halloween much.

sure, when i was little it was super fun to dress up in costume and go door-to-door for the yearly candyfest.  and thanks to an expert seamstress for a grandma, i rocked some pretty awesome ensembles.  but as i got older, the appeal lessened more and more every year till i was damn near the ebenezer scrooge of all hallows' day.

it's been fun watching the teen go through the dressing up and trick-or-treating stage through the years, and the bean is finally getting the hang of the idea, too.  if not for them, i wouldn't even acknowledge the holiday at all (aside from ingesting copious amounts of candy corn and fun-sized candy bars for a month).  not to mention, it seems like the costumes get skimpier and skankier ever year.  ugh.

i don't think i ever went to a single pumpkin patch when i was little.  maybe that's why i think it's probably one of the lamest things ever.  i truly just don't get it.  it's a parking lot with bales of hay, grimy bounce houses requiring pricey tickets, bored employees, and overpriced pumpkins.  mind you, i get the photo op appeal, as pointed out by my friend dailygluttony - but the place is usually so damn crowded that you have people in the background in most of your shots anyway.  bah humbug.

that being said, i found myself taking the girls to two separate pumpkin-related things this weekend.  kidspace museum was having a pumpkin festival, and it sounded like fun.  so after the bean woke up from her nap, we hopped in the car and headed out to pasadena (still her favorite city - "mommy, can we go to pasadena?  pleeeeaaaaase?")

there were game and food booths, a snack shoppe, and bounce houses galore.

with kidspace being a nonprofit children's museum, i had no problem buying tickets for the various activities.  the bean was super excited.  the teen was...there.

of course, once she caught sight of this one, it was all over.  "mickey mouse clubhouse!" she squealed, and off we went to get in the long line.

obviously it was super popular, as evidenced by the sign that had been trampled on by hordes of stampeding disney-lovin' toddlers.

the line went fairly quickly, as the thing was ginormous and the attendants adhered to the strict 3-minute policy.  in no time, she was clambering inside and bouncing to her little heart's content.

and all too soon, her three minutes were up.  she's a good-natured kid who follows the rules, so when the attendants told her it was time to let other kids in, she scurried right out.

 then it was on to the next - her second all-time favorite:

when that three minutes was up, we headed over to the booths and let her try out a couple of easy games.  like, how much simpler can it get than picking out a couple of lollipops to see if there are any prize tickets attached to the sticks?

i didn't really get this one, but it looked like she was fishing for prizes.  whatever.  the attendant helped her out and she walked away with another lollipop, a pack of crayons and a little notepad.

the teen didn't leave empty-handed - she sipped on a lovely organic lemonade as she watched her sister's antics.

since we'd gotten there rather late and the festival was almost over, we headed to another pumpkin patch on the way home.

it didn't take long for each of them to pick out a pumpkin.

not wanting to shell out TWELVE dollars for more bounce house-ing, i let the bean talk me into this instead.

but those poor animals were sick of those pellets.  they sniffed at her hand, she would giggle, and they'd turn their heads and walk away.  or, in this case, were more interested in the cup she held.

a few more photo ops and ponying up $12 for two pumpkins, and we were outta there.

dude, i would've paid about half that at the grocery store.  but i did my duty as a parent - pumpkin patch, check.