Mom and Son

The Great Pumpkin

The day ended with all of us picking out our pumpkins for Halloween...and pulling them off the vine.

No fun at all

There was also a hayride...
Tunnels, mazes and slides...
And an old-time fort.

All aboard

Wonder of wonders, they even had a train ride at this place.

And they're off...

Another of Beckett's favorite activities at the pumpkin patch was riding these cool tricycles. Now, because everything but everything is a race, Beckett put the pedal down and smoked this poor kid.

Animal Magnetism

Highlights of the day included feeding (by hand) goats, chickens, horses and a number of other animals, which descended upon the cityfolk like so many Tijuanan youngsters peddling chicle. Beckett didn't do much hand-feeding himself, preferring the relative safety of a few inches away.

I coulda used a little more cowbell...

On Saturday Danielle, Joel, Brenden, Danika, Judy, Amber, Beckett, Ayla and I hit Carolyn's Country Cousins pumpkin patch near Kansas City. This sprawling compound was part farm, part amusement park, all awesome. When volunteers were sought at the pig races, Beckett volunteered and ended up banging a drum to scare the pigs into running faster. Beckett also made friends with the cowbell kid, who would have given Will Ferrell a run for his money.

Much Lousy Soccer (or, if you prefer, MLS)

On Thursday of last week we headed to Kansas City for David Beckham's big Midwest unveiling at an LA Galaxy-KC Wizards match. Only problem, the main attraction was MIA. True, his dad's heart attack in London was a good excuse, but Goldenballs wasn't planning on joining us at Arrowhead anyway. Nevermind, some 32,000 folks showed up anyway, and were treated to 90 minutes of sub-JV quality soccer. The icing on the cake was the giant fireworks display immediately following the game, but not viewable from inside the, you know, stadium.

Anyway, we got to see Landon Donovan and Eddie Johnson, two of the biggest names in U.S. soccer and Beckett rallied somewhat for the late game.