Tightrope Goats

Cold weather has moved into Oregon

and the leaves on a few of the trees have started to turn color.

Accepting that fall is now officially upon us,

we made the trek out to the Canby Pumpkin Patch

to properly prepare for the upcoming holiday.

Last time Orin went to a pumpkin patch, he was too young to choose

his own pumpkin, so this year marked his Selection Debut.

On the car ride over we tried to prepare him by offering pointers

on what to look for in a pumpkin:

size, texture, a flat face, a strong stem...

His mind practically bursting with helpful tidbits,

Orin strode confidently up to the pumpkins

and chose the first pumpkin he ran into.

He then proceeded to roll it towards the car.

"But Orin, that is the first pumpkin you looked at, how can you

be so sure that it is the perfect one?" we asked with concern.

"Maybe we should go for a quick stroll, just to check out a few more."

Orin reluctantly obliged.

At first, he was unsure about the sea of pumpkins.

There were too many to choose from:

he needed a better vantage point.

This haystack worked nicely.

In the end though, it turns out that he was right.

The first one was the best one.

Maybe he just has an eye for it.

Like father, like son.

Casey is a professional picker.

After choosing our pumpkins,

we wandered around the rest of the farm.

There were plenty of the usual farm animals including

cows, chickens, and rabbits.

But when we got to the goats, it seemed that there was something

fishy in the air. Orin spotted it first.

These we not normal goats.

They were Tightrope Walking Goats.

Very fishy indeed.

After we left to goats we forced the boys to

take some of those dorky cardboard-cutout face shots.

They tolerated it pretty well for a minute or two...

but then lost interest.

After the forced photo-op, we toured Noah's Arc,

which, you might not be aware of,

came equipped with a slide.

.

After the Arc, Cole and Dakota got to go in

the Bouncy Castle and the Nuthouse.

To finish off the day, Cole took a turn using the

pressurized Corn Shooting Gun.

Orin was denied his chance to hit the ghost targets

because he is currently going through a stage

where he derives pleasure from throwing things at people

and I figured that putting him in command of a

high pressure corn gun was just asking for a lawsuit.

And now, just in case you don't think you have gotten

enough pictures in this post

I will, without comment, post a series of pictures

of Orin looking intensely contemplative.

Just because.

Stay tuned for pictures of Orin's first pumpkin carving.

I have a feeling it could get interesting.