I LOVE Halloween - mostly because of pumpkins. ;-p

This past weekend, I took my annual trip to one of my most favorite places on earth - Lombardi's Ranch in Saugus, Ca. My mom used to take me and my siblings there every year to pick out pumpkins from the time we were really little, so I have a lot of great memories there. This time I took my husband and my father & mother-in-law so they could experience it too.

You have to understand 2 things about Lombardi's:

1) Fall has not really started until you've gone here (and football season starts).

&

2) This is no ordinary pumpkin patch!

First of all, Lombardi's is HUGE. I mean really really huge. It's a working ranch and they grow all their own pumpkins there. Check out my pick of just ONE of the pumpkin fields you can walk through to buy a pumpkin. That's one of about 10. Second, they have a lot of other stuff there too; hay rides, a sunflower field, corn fields and a corn maze (you can even buy fresh corn on the cob like at the fair to eat while you walk around), a petting zoo and random animals you can look at too (check out my Llama picture! it's totally chewing on the wool of the sheep!). There is so much to see and it's a blast esp. for kids. They also have really strange pumpkins and squash too. And all of it's free. :-) You just pay if you want a pumpkin or something.

One of my favorite-est parts of Lombardi's is their Scarecrow Contest. Every year tons of groups (like brownie troups, boy scouts, elementary school classes, etc.) can enter a scarecrow into the contest. I'm not sure what they win and they split up the age groups to make it a little bit more fair, but I'm always amazed at what these kids come up with! It's so much fun to grab some fresh corn on the cob and walk around through the sunflower patch down Scarecrow Alley. Check out the pics of my favorites.

I spoke with one of the owners and founders, Joanne Lombardi, this year and have made arrangments to do photography sessions there next year! I'm so excited about this! Basically, you'll be able to bring your kiddos in their costumes to Lombardi's for 15 minute "mini-sessions" (for cheap too!) and get some great pro shots of your kids in costume in a wonderful locations. You'll have to signup beforehand for a time slot, but if you have more than one kid with you, you can sign up for multiple times. I'm really excited about this opportunity and you can bet you'll be hearing more about it. :-)

Check out the pics! ~Brienne







btw, is this not the funniest sign? And people totally sit there and wait.... I giggle every time! ;-)