Kids are on fall break.
Justin got a 2 day break that he had to spend studying.
So I planned a day in "The World Pumpkin Capital" aka Half Moon Bay for the kids and me.
On the way up, Drew was literally in tears that I was making them drive 2 hours for a pumpkin patch.
Tears.
It reminded me of the time Justin was so bugged that I made us drive 2 hours from Pensacola to Biloxi to visit a casino that had awesome bathrooms and an amazing buffet.
Both trips were worth it to me.
And Justin is still bugged about that casino trip.
However, Drew may have gained some trust in me.
We stopped at the first patch we saw as we came into town for a bathroom break.
The kids all chose pumpkins right away, but I wasn't impressed with their pumpkins thrown around a field like they were grown there.
So we moved on. And we passed probably 5 more pumpkin patches before we ended up at Farmer John's pumpkins. Farmer John grows his own pumpkins and also happens to be the mayor of HMB. He prides himself on not having bouncy houses and petting zoos. Which I'm great with. But we wanted a corn maze!
The patch was so cute and I was in picture taking heaven.
The day before our trip, they had held the weigh-in for the giant pumpkin contest. The winner was a 2,058 pound pumpkin. I was dying to see that thing, but it had been hidden away from pumpkin vandalizers so it'd still be good for the festival this weekend. When we passed that gigantic pumpkin on the side of the rode, I seriously thought for a minute that might be it. Nope.
My cousin Cherisse recommended her favorite beach there: the one behind the Ritz Carlton.
It was a super windy day, but that meant we had the beach to ourselves.
Somehow that fluffy beach frond made it home with us and is still shedding.
That beach was straight out of a fairy tale. A windy fairy tale.
After that we were hungry. Since I had chosen what we did up til then, I let the kids choose dinner. I asked if they wanted fast food or somewhere you sit down. Drew said, "Sit down! Like Burger King!"
We met in the middle and had Pizza My Heart in Santa Cruz. We have this place in Monterey, it's just good.
The last stop of the day was Glaum Egg Ranch in Aptos, where we got 23 cage-free eggs and a dancing chicken show for 4 crisp one-dollar bills.
This flat of eggs was dispensed out of their egg vending machine while we watched the show.
When we got home, Drew rated the drive a 0 and everything else a 10.
So basically, I was right and he better not whine tomorrow when I drag him somewhere else.