Ew and Lovers of Goo: Variations in Pumpkin Carving

 

 This weekend, right before the Packers creamed the Vikings, we carved our pumpkins.  Mia has been helping me cook in the kitchen since she was old enough to stand on a chair, so she doesn't mind getting messy.

 Evan mostly enjoyed exaggerating his disgust.  He gets his drama from his mama.

 They all needed a little help getting the goo scraped,

 but I let them do the scooping.  Blech!

 Owen ditched out before his was finished.  You would think by the condition of his room, backpack, and desk, that he wouldn't mind getting messy.  You would be wrong.  At halftime I made him come back upstairs and draw his pumpkin face.  His pumpkin was so tough though that Jim had to carve it.

 Mia decided she wanted me to draw hers and then she would paint it.

Fall Leaves

I don't know if I told you this, but years ago we were driving around this neighborhood browsing for houses.  There was a house for sale down the street.  It was good in many ways, but it wasn't right for us.  As we left he neighborhood, we drove past this house.  As I gazed down into the yard from the street above, I said, "I wish that house was for sale." As many people have said of our new home, "It looks like us."  I could picture the boys playing football in the yard.  I could see us here.  Sometimes I feel like I just know things.  Some people call it love at first site or intuition or the power of positive thinking.  I can't explain how or why these things happen, but somehow we ended up here.  And when I saw the boys playing football in the yard today, it was like deja vu.  I had seen that moment before in my own mind's eye.

Anyway.  It's fall.  And I swear peek came twice this year.  The colors right now are fabulous and we are just losing the bulk of our leaves.  Tomorrow is Evan's birthday party.  I should be baking a cake, wrapping presents, and cleaning the house, but I walked outside.  It's gorgeous!  It's almost 60˚ and sunny.  The wind is a bit nippy, but the leaves were calling to me.  They were whispering, "Erinn.  Erinn.  Remember when you're dad use to make huge leaf piles that you would jump in for hours?"  And just like that, I was adding to a pile I had already made at the end of the deck.  And then I got a better idea.

If jumping off two steps is fun, what would it be like to slide into a pile of leaves?

I raked half the yard up as tall as I could.  Evan tested the pile for the fun factor and gave it an A, so we called Owen and our neighbor outside to join us.

 

YIPPEE!!!

Eventually I had to get focused back on the party.  Evan is having an Angry Bird party so I decided to build a live set with a life-sized sling shot.  I've been collecting boxes for a month.  I planned to spray paint them today, but 1. the paint didn't stick and 2. it was so windy the boxes kept flying away.  As I went inside to get supplies for Plan B, Evan and our little neighbor buddy came up with a typical Evan/Dom plan.

Wouldn't it be funny to run around the yard as fast as you can with a diaper box on your head and somehow try to catch Owen that way?

Yeah.  I mean, who wouldn't think that was fun?

Apparently it's not only fun, but exhausting.

Afton Pumpkin Patch with Grandma

Owen has off school for MEA so we went to the pumpkin patch today.  We went back to Afton since it's so close and we had such a great time last year.

As we were driving to the orchard, we saw this coyote walking through a field.  He stopped, looked us and casually continued on his way.

The thing I love about Afton Apples is that they have so many things to do: raspberry, pumpkin, apples, etc. plus wagon rides, a corn maze, hay mound, petting zoo, tire mountain, food and more!

I think Mia's favorite part was the raspberry picking.  She got really into it this summer with Evan and now she's a pro!  Well... the video doesn't really do it justice because I started rolling tape after she had already pretty much plucked that branch dry.

 

Even Owen, my non-fruit eater, got into picking the raspberries.  He was very interested in learning how to pick the best tasting berries, even though he wouldn't try one.  He gave all of his to Mia too.

We checked out the petting zoo.

And then we headed to the pumpkin patch on a tractor pulled hay wagon.

At Afton, the wagon drops you off one end of the pumpkin patch and picks you up at the other.  I learned last year that it's good to pick your pumpkins towards the end of the patch so you don't have to carry them all the way down the patch.  Unfortunately I didn't relay that message to Owen and Connie in time.

After lugging the pumpkins half way down the patch, we had to stop and take a break.

Apple trees are conveniently located next to the pumpkin patch.  You can also hop on the wagon and get dropped off at your favorite apple variety.

 

Just wanted to show the perspective of how long this patch is.  You can't even see the other end in this photo and we still another 200 feet to go.  Lesson learned, pumpkins bought, fruit eaten and good times had.

Amazing Hike in Boulder Junction

 

 Words can't really describe how beautiful this hike was today.  Although the colors were past peek, the foliage was still amazingly gorgeous.  The fallen leaves were like a thin blanket on our path providing the perfect soundtrack for our walk.

(Ya-ya, Mia & Bumpa)

 "Horsey Bumpa."

Translation: Hold me Grandpa.

 

 Our destination was this bridge in hopes of getting a fall family photo.

 

First attempt.  That's all they would sit still for.  Everyone looks human so I'd call this a success.

 

 Like I said, there's nothing to say.  Words and pictures just can't describe it.  It was just plain beautiful out there today.  Looking at the photos is all I need to take me back to the smells and sounds.

 We took the scenic route home.  I think everyone nodded off except Jim and that's only because he was driving.  Down the road from my parents' place there is a cranberry bog. 

We missed the tours, but the gate was still open.  Jim pulled over and hopped out with the boys to get a closer look.  Day one of our trip Up North is not even over.  Next up, Ya-ya's Halloween Party, complete with costumes for all and festive baking projects!

Boulder Junction Harvest Festival

 We missed the peek colors Up North this year, however fall is just beginning and there is so much fun stuff to do.  This weekend we went up to my folks' neck of the woods.  Over in Boulder Junction, they were having their Harvest Festival.  Apparently there was a parade and hayride, but we were gravitated towards the pumpkins and art galleries.  There are some really neat little shops and galleries in Boulder Junction, in case you ever go.

 Outside the Dancing Bear, you can have your photo taken in a giant rocking chair.  You know you're in a fun town in the midwest if you can find an oversized photo prop like a giant chair, fish, bovine or two, or other various animals or cartoon characters.  (Click the links.  You will love them all.)

 We brought the wagon along, not knowing what the parking situation might be like.  Lucky for Evan, somebody was willing to pull him.  After pumpkins and galleries, we crossed the street and had lunch in an old cabin (I'll fill in the name later when it comes to me.)  The wait was long, the food (that my mom swore was great) was OK and the room was really hot, but I didn't have to cook it or clean it up, so I was happy.  And the decor was really interesting.  Lots of antiques hanging on the walls.  Many of them were chairs.  Mia couldn't understand why there were chairs nailed to the wall.  She kept insisted them to "GET DOWN!"  The waitresses were also the hostesses, the cooks and the bussers.  I'm not quite sure how the three of them were doing it with a full house.

 More statues for photo opps.

Before we headed out to the trail, we stopped and had some kettle corn from the festival.  That really hit the spot for the kids.  While they enjoyed that, mom and I ran into a store called Earthly Belongings.  For those of you from the Twin Cities, it's a lot like 10,000 Villages.  For those of you not from her or not familiar, it's a fair trade store where artists from many third world countries get a fair price for their wares without the pricey middle man.  I bought a Blessing Basket from Ghana.  You should buy one too.