Pumpkin Carving!!!

It's that time of year again! It's time to yank out the pumpkin guts and play in the ooey-gooey mess! Even Daddy had fun grabbing handfuls and plopping it in the bucket.
Amelia had fun scooping out the "guts" (she and Daddy had a small argument about how the insides of pumpkins are it's guts, she didn't like that for some reason) and then playing with the slippery pumpkin seeds.

James had the cleanest pumpkin by far! Nice work big guy!

That is our "Crazy Auntie Rita" and she is really being CRAZY!!!

Um, what were you to doing? You have very mischievous looking faces on...

Look at their concentration! It takes a steady hand!

Daddy had to reposition himself to be able to get the fine details carved out for James.

A Cackling witch for James.

Mommy's silly scarecrow.

Amelia's and Auntie Rita's furry monster!

After carving, Daddy roasted the pumpkin seed for us to nibble on a little before and after dinner. Speaking of dinner, Auntie not only drove all the way out to our house to carve pumpkins with us, she made us a very yummy and healthy dinner! Thanks Auntie Rita for spending the evening with us and for all of the awesome food! We love you!

Yay For Fall Party!

Today was the Z Family's annual Yay for Fall party!

Check out the largest pile of leaves we have ever jumped into!

Mommy could barely get a picture of all four of us, because we were to busy running, jumping into the leaves, jumping out of the leaves and running back into leaves!
Alright, it is pumpkin carving time!


Ryan is doing his very best to poke little holes along the outline of a silly face!

Lauren and Aunt Kathy are really getting into carving a cute cat on this pumpkin.

James had no fear of pumpkin goo, he dug right in!

Amelia had fun squishing the gooey mess!

All done! This is James' spooky spider

Amelia's "goat" aka ghost is the first one on the left.Everyone did a great job!

After pumpkin carving we all enjoyed a fantastic dinner followed by many yummy treats!

Thanks for a great pumpkin carving party!

Fright Fest

It's that time of year again...

for FRIGHT FEST at SIX FLAGS!

This year they had "trick-or-treating" for the kids in Bugs Bunnyland. Here is Tweety dressed up as an angel.
Porky pig as a lion. Porky helped hand out the treat bags.

Is Bugs a vampire? Maybe he is a friendly vampire?!

Daffy is a pirate! This was James' favorite costume.

We rode upstairs and downstairs on the carousel this time.

Giddy up!

Lunch break! Look at those rosey cheeks, it was a 80+ degree day!

After a quick bite to eat, we headed back in for more spooky fun. Even though this can be a "frightening" time of year at Six Flags, the goblins and creatures stay away until dusk making a no so scary time in the park for it's youngest guests. We stopped in to see both Halloween shows. The first one was called "Love at First Fright". It is a musical that they do each year. We really enjoy the songs, dancing and all of the spooky lighting effects. Then, we took the kids to their first Hypnotist show that was held in the Pictorium. The show was a little over an hour long, making it a bit of a stretch for the kids attention spans, but they did very well. Both Mark and I really found the whole show very entertaining and a bit fascinating. I would recommend seeing Susan Rosen, Mistress Mesmerism. She has been doing this show for 15 years now!

Despite the huge crowds, we had a great time as always.

Shades of Autumn Festival

Today, we headed out to Stades Farm to enjoy the Shades of Autumn Festival with Uncle Peter and Auntie Jeannine. Uncle Peter and Aunt Jeannine stopped by this Pumpkin Farm last weekend and told us that we had to come check it out with them today! We are soooo happy we did! This place is awesome! The first thing we did was hit the huge corn bins! Yes, that is correct corn, corn and more corn to play, jump and bury yourself in!
James was making a "corn angel"!

See we can bury anybody!

Uncle Peter is so much fun! Watch out! Here we come!!!

This was a little maze built with huge hay bales. We had just as much fun walking on top as walking in between the bales.

This was sheer awesomeness! Yes, this is a pumpkin CANNON!!!

Here is the guy loading the pumpkin in the barrel. When it has built up enough pressure, the man tooted the whistle to lets us know he is about to fire the cannon. "Toot-TOOT!"

The pumpkin flew so high and so far, I lost it in the camera lens! Let's just say it cleared that van EASILY!!!

The kiddos were a little unsure how loud the cannon was going to be, so Amelia and Auntie Jeannine found a nice spot far away from the cannon.

Frank the Combine (sorry the pic is sideways, darn Blogger!)

Yes, the Cannon was repositioned to aim straight for the van! The first pumpkin was a direct hit! The pumpkin flew straight through the passenger window and knocked the driver's door wide open! So cool!

I will not ruin the surprise ending, in case any readers want to check out this pumpkin farm to see the pumpkin cannon...

James started off way, way off in the distance, and after each pumpkin, he crept closer and closer. They also had corn cannons that you can fire at targets. The air canons sounded similar to the ball room at Great America, just a little louder. I think the kids were a little concerned that if those little canons made that much noise, what would the ginormous canon sound like? Actually, surprisingly minimal noise came from the fired cannon.

Now, it is time to take a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch to find a pumpkin. The price of the pumpkins were $5 each, no matter the size! Not bad!

James' pumpkin. (Again, sorry)

Amelia's pumpkin. "It's too heavy, Dada."

Love this picture!

After dropping off the pumpkins, it was time for a barrel wagon ride! Choo-choo!

Uncle Peter and Amelia rode in the caboose.

Whee!
I had to give it a try, too!

Time to head home! Thanks for a great day at the pumpkin patch, Auntie Jeannine and Uncle Peter! I think we might have to do this every Fall together!