Pumpkins and Grandparents are A-Maize-ing

My folks made the long drive out to see us this past weekend and deliver some furniture that needs to ‘stay in the family.’ We took advantage of the fact that there visit was so close to Halloween and got to share some of typical All Hollow's Eve traditions with them.

The first was our annual trek to the pumpkin patch. We go to this little roadside place west of the house. I’m not sure of the real name, but I call it the ‘honor-system’ patch. It’s not manned and there is just a locked box to put your money in. You are ‘on your honor’ to put in the correct amount.

Emilie was gung-ho to put everything in her mouth from pumpkin vines (I imagine those must be prickly) to straw (fiber anyone?). Though she has no clue what pumpkins are all about I still think she had a good time.

Jack was excited about the patch…until we arrived and he spotted the tractors parked behind it. After that it took a lot of effort and every ounce of our patience to keep him focused on picking out a pumpkin. All he wanted to do was go see the tractors!! In the end we snagged a pumpkin that he had rolled around a bit and left before he melted down over not being able to go touch the tractors.










After the pumpkin patch we swung by the CSI (College of Southern Idaho) Ag/Hort club’s Corn Maize. My Mom had never been to a corn maze and neither had Jack or Emilie. Guess we got a real deal on this trip. Jack led the way. For a 2 almost 3 year-old he has surprisingly good direction. Still we managed to wander around quite a bit and get good and ‘lost’ before finding our way to the exit.


The weekend is short, too short, so the day after pumpkin picking and corn mazing we jumped right into some other ‘fall’ activities. What’s Halloween without something sweet?
Jack loves to cut things out with cookie cutters. His usual medium is play-dough, but we though Sugar Cookies would be just as fun. Turns out everybody thought it was a good idea. We got the whole gang crowded in the kitchen cutting out pumpkins, apples, acorns, cats, and leaves.


Of course what is a good sugar cookie without a little frosting?? I tried convincing Jack that frosting was better on the cookie to no avail. Even little Emilie seemed to think frosting would be better served someplace else than on a cookie.


Lastly…we carved pumpkins! Well, at least we got the kids’ pumpkins carved. Seems by this point both big and small people alike were running out of steam. So after cleaning out and putting faces on Jack and Emilie’s pumpkins we sealed them with petroleum jelly (so they don’t dry out before Halloween) and left the other three for later this week. I’m thinking maybe Friday or Saturday.






The very final thing we did was put the Halloween costumes on the kiddos and have a fashion show for Grandpa and Grannie. They were a hit…but the rest of you will have to wait until Halloween to see the photos.