Runaway Pumpkin

We made a visit to a local church's pumpkin patch this afternoon. Of course, the primary objective was the perfect pumpkin patch photo. Of the 24 photos I took, this is the only one in which both of them are remotely cooperating at the same time...

And I also love this one, because even though they look like they're laughing because they're enjoying themselves, I think they're actually mocking me and my vain attempts to get the perfectly posed photo...when will I ever learn?
The secondary objective was to acquire a pumpkin big enough to become a jack-o-lantern later this month. We found a nice $9 pumpkin and loaded it up in the back of the car. I should mention that one of my favorite features of the new car is the automatic liftgate. Well, I don't know if I hit the button one too many times or forgot to hit it altogether, but the long and short of it is that I accidentally pulled out onto a fairly busy four lane highway with my liftgate up. I heard the noise and felt the breeze about the same time and looked in my rearview mirror and saw my new pumpkin lying in the middle of the lane. Needless to say I flipped out a little bit. I quickly zipped into a business parking lot and my sweet mother-in-law, who was with us, volunteered to run back for the pumpkin! Miraculously, our pumpkin was intact. Even more of a blessing is that we didn't cause a wreck. We did, however, probably give the couple of youth working the pumpkin patch at the church at good chuckle...