slip sliding away

Alex had his pre-school trip to the pumpkin patch today, and he asked me if I could come too.
The pumpkins are there for fall decorating and especially for the Halloween aspect, particularly the jack-o-lantern carving.
I decided to go, as one of the other Mother's said the teachers needed help transporting all those pumpkins.
I had never been to anything like this - they certainly don't have "pumpkin patches" in Australia. In this pumpkin patch there was a pumpkin field, but they had decorated the fields and paths along the way to the patch, with lots of interesting things for kids. There was a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch with a duet band playing songs that the kids could sing along to. Most of the kids sat stony faced not knowing what to expect. On the hayride to the pumpkin fields we passed a spooky looking castle, the pumpkin "cemetery" and a giant, rather scary, lumpy headed pumpkin, with a gappy toothed grin like it had been in one too many punch-ups.
Once out at the pumpkin patch, the "Pumpkin Princess" met the kids and told them which part of the patch was best, and a bunch of other silly stuff. It was so fun, and I am really glad I went.
The teachers definitely needed help. There were 23 kids and they searched far and wide for the perfect pumpkin, which seemed to be a mile away from the hay ride stop. All the "chosen ones" were far too big for the kids to carry, I ended up having to carry 5 of the things - my arms are still shaking. I'll say the teachers needed help!
One kid, who didn't know me from a bar of soap, handed me his pumpkin and puffed, "I am sooooo glad you are here" - ha! I guess he had been struggling with his pumpkin too long - and he didn't care WHO he off loaded his vegetable too.
The pumpkin patch was a sticky boggy plain of muck and our shoes were caked in it and most of the kids slipped in it - it was quite disgusting really, but also pretty funny. My pants were covered in mud and my shoes....oh man, I really need to invest in some rubber boots.
Silly me thought they were given a pumpkin from some kind of barrel of squeaky clean pre-picked pumpkins - I am so clueless sometimes.
At the end, the kids were given an apple to munch on for the ride home in the school bus. The two hours went so quick. Even Alex asked why pre-school as over already. I told him he must of had too much fun since time seemed to pass so quick - he agreed.