pumpkins, peanuts, perris

i haven't done the pumpkin patch thing in quite a long time.  the last few years, MIL has been in town around this time and usually took the girls while the hub and i were off doing...well, something fun, i'm sure.  this year, though, we were on our own.  and as it often does, facebook came to my rescue when a sponsored post came up for the "peanuts great pumpkin patch express" - a train ride, pumpkin patch, activities, live music, you get it.  i invited some friends to join us, and we booked tickets for a sunday morning seating.

the event was at the orange empire railway museum in perris, which is about an hour away from us.  it was a really nice day - a little cloudy, a little sunny, temperatures in the 70s.  perfect fall weather for a trip to the pumpkin patch.

we'd gotten there just a few minutes ahead of schedule, and there was already a pretty good-sized line of folks waiting to board the train.

there were cute peanuts-themed decorations inside the train, and we found plenty of seats available in the very first car.

we showed our tickets to the volunteer who came through, and she exchanged them for these to use when we got to the pumpkin patch.

the actual train ride was short and not particularly picturesque.  we chugged along very slowly up the same street we'd pulled in on, stopped briefly, and headed right back.  then we rode through a residential area, stopped again, and chugged right back to where we started.  it was just enough to satisfy the kids' hankering for a train ride.

the pumpkin patch was well stocked, especially since we were the first group of the day.

 and then the bean and her friends headed over to the pumpkin decorating station to do a little painting.

this man REALLY wanted to capture these moments with his camera, practically shoving me aside to get to his grandkid.

just a few feet away, the peanuts characters arrived for photo ops.  the line to meet them grew quickly as the girls worked on their pumpkins.

by the time we were ready to get in line, the staffer told us that the characters were going to take a break, but would be back...in FORTY minutes.  um, no.  so we settled for a picture with their butts instead, which the girls found funnier anyway.

there was a gift shop, of course.

and silly photo ops.

on a potty break, we discovered this trolley bus thing that offered a ride that looped through the museum grounds.  sure, why not?

these buses used to take people through downtown l.a.  the museum has a couple of them, and this one has been fully restored and even has ads for products from the era.  it was really cute.

there wasn't much to see, but we learned a lot more about the mechanics of the bus than we ever even knew we wanted to know.

when the ride was over, we went to check out the old trolleys in one of the buildings.

this descanso funeral car is the last of its kind in existence.  people used to pay $25 to load up their deceased loved ones and have a short service onboard while en route to the cemetery.

afterwards, we decided to head out to riverside to grab some lunch.  the mission inn was all ready for halloween, and we made a tentative date to head out again to see it in december when it's fully decorated for the holidays.

the girls loved talking to the parrots, who talked right back.

one last selfie for the road!

sunday funday, indeed.