carving time

Every year, the boys seem to forget that carving pumpkins is kind of gross. And then they remember, and there is a chorus of disgusted squeals that lasts about 10 minutes until they finally get engrossed in the task. Then it's mostly quiet concentration, punctuated by an occasional "eeewwww" when they get to a particularly mushy/stringy part. This year, we got a pretty interesting variety of pumpkins, and we saved the seeds to try to grow some of our own next year. We have done this before, but the critters usually manage to gnaw off the vines before the pumpkins get big enough to carve. But hope -- and hopefully, pumpkin seeds -- springs eternal, so we'll see. In the meantime, we'll have these frightful visages to gaze upon for the next couple of weeks...

pumpkin patch

We hit a new pumpkin patch this year: Dinges Farms, which is in Michigan, not too far from Barb and Kevin's cottage. They met us there, and the boys had fun exploring the area with their grandparents. The place really went all out with the activities! There was a huge corn maze, creative spiders and UFOs and other creatures everywhere, hayrides, dirt track racing, and a great selection of funky gourds (and pumpkins, of course). We'll definitely have this place on our list for a return engagement next year!

raking time already

I can't believe it's fall already! It's still warm, but the leaves are coming down, and the boys are still at the age where they like to do helpful things like rake up big piles of leaves (most of which they either jump in and scatter, or leave too far away from the road for the town leaf truck to reach, but oh well) so we're taking advantage of it while we can.

enchanted gardening

Have I mentioned that my sister Loni is engaged? Next year, she will get both a husband and a step-daughter, which means we get a new niece. Lilly is a sweet girl, but she can totally hold her own with the boys, which is why it seemed like a good idea to have her come spend the night and then take a little adventure to Linton's Enchanted Gardens with us yesterday. Max ran into some trouble behaving Friday night/yesterday morning, so he didn't come with us, but Liam, Henry, Lilly, and I met up with my brother J, who lives near Linton's, for a morning of fun.

So really, Linton's is a garden center where people buy all their plants and supplies, but it is set up with extensive grounds that have winding paths that lead around this kind of fairy land, with miniature houses and trains and barns sort of strewn all over the place. The place was all decked out for Halloween, so we had a great time following all the paths and checking out skeletons riding bikes, mowing lawns, and just sitting in a rocking chair having a "jaw." We made our way to the petting zoo, where we fed a some animals, then to a pond, where we fed some creepy giant fish (these guys have creeped me out before).

Back inside the garden center, in honor of Halloween, there were lots of fun activities. J opted us out (by which I mean he begged us not to make him do it!) of building our own scarecrow, but the kids happily went through a super-hot hay maze and came out all sweaty and ready for some pumpkin bowling. And afterward, just in case they had any energy left to work out (they did), we headed to a nearby fast-food emporium with built-in playground for lunch. A short but sweet visit for the boys with Uncle J, and a good way for them to get to know their future cousin a little bit better.