Oh, the Pumpkin Fun Just Never Ends

Today I thought it would be a nice family activity and fun project for Avery to carve our Halloween pumpkins. I thought she'd get a kick out of seeing the gooey insides, and find the carving etc. interesting to watch.

Before we started carving, I made this Pumpkin Pie Milkshake to get us in the pumpkin spirit.

If you like pumpkin pie, you'll like this milkshake. The graham cracker crumbles on top really made the shake. Kinda like a blizzard from DQ. So good!

As you can see from this picture, my "family fun activity" is seriously lacking a "family." I started the project out by myself (which, actually, I found to be just fine...kind of relaxing to be honest), while Abe was setting up some shelves downstairs and Avery was running around down there with him.

I had to pull my hair back once the project started getting down and dirty :)

Then Abe came upstairs and decided to join in on the fun. As you can see Avery is missing from all photos. She stood about ten feet away from the table at all times, no matter how many times I tried to get her to dig out some of the pumpkin guts. She just kept giving me this disgusted look, like "lady, there aint no way I'm coming anywhere near that pile of slime." She's not one to like being messy, so I guess I'm not surprised that she wasn't into pumpkin carving.

Abe eventually got bored with the carving and decided he would rather be finishing his shelving project than cut out the rest of the little holes in the design he picked (which was the Blues Clues dog...since Avery loves dogs so much). So I ended up finishing his pumpkin, along with mine. And of course he left me with the mess :( which actually wasn't all that bad, since I didn't have a two year old helping me with the carving.

Here's our (ahem, MY) finished pumpkins. While the family fun activity was kind of a bust, I think the pumpkins turned out pretty cute.

Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday, we went to Leed's Farm. Leed's grows lots of pumpkins, and rather than have you wander through their 20 acres of fields to find the perfect pumpkin, they pick them for you and lay them out on pallets where you can easily find the perfect one (or three) for your front stoop.



In addition to pumpkins, Leed's has lots and lots of fun rides and farm-type enjoyment for the kiddos (and some for adults too). They have two barns...one with lots of hay to jump in and slides that go into the hay, and the other with barn animals and a corn sandbox. They have zip lines, tractor rides, a pumpkin jumpy thing, and a little train-like ride pulled by a tractor, called the Banana Boat.


Avery was in quite a mood on Sunday (and by quite a mood, I mean she was in a really crabby, sassy kind of mood. In her defense, we discovered last night that she has an ear infection, so maybe this was starting on Sunday and we just didn't know it. Yeah, we'll go with that). From the get-go, she was very clingy, wanting to be carried the entire time, and didn't want to participate in any of the activities (particularly in the barn). The place was absolutely mobbed with people, so it may have been that she was just overwhelmed by the crowds. The one thing she did want to ride was the banana boat. Here she is at the front of the train, right behind the tractor.

When the ride stopped, I tried to get her to smile so I could take her picture. She sat in that car for a good two minutes looking as far away from me as she could, so I couldn't take her picture, until her dad got her out. Stubborn, I tell ya.

As the time passed, and after about six more banana boat rides, Avery's mood seemed to lift a little bit. We went up to the pumpkin jump with Nate and Holly and their kids. Avery appeared to be interested in jumping too, so Abe went on with her. As you can see from the picture, this was a no-go, and they got off right away. Those are Nate and Holly's kids in the background jumping and having fun.

Then I tried to get a nice picture with Abe, Avery and a pumpkin. Avery was not interested.

As we made our way to the car to leave, Avery spotted the painted animals where you can take photos as a cow, horse, etc. The crowds were starting to disappear, so she seemed a bit more comfortable with the place at this point. She ran over with Grace, who always seems to be able to cheer her up. And I finally got a decent picture. Wait....hold on a minute.....is that a...smile?