Pumpkins Pumpkins Everywhere

It is pumpkin season.  My girls love picking out pumpkins at the patch.  I wouldn't dare ever buy one from a store, that just isn't so fun.

At the first pumpkin patch.  This was on the outskirts of Hermiston.

Will gave Megan a ride as we walked through the patch.  We spent awhile trying to find the perfect two pumpkins.

And then playing on the tall hay piles after finding two big pumpkins.  Our camera was being a little funny, so we didn't get a lot of good pictures from the pumpkin patch.

This was at the Fall Festival at the church we went to last week.  All the kids were allowed to take a pumpkin home for free.  Megan didn't have one; she had a hard time making up her mind about one pumpkin.

Whitney balances a pumpkin on her head.

For FHE yesterday, we decided to carve our pumpkins.  Taking out the seeds and gunk took a long time.  Megan wasn't too sure about getting her hands messy, but the other girls went to town cleaning the pumpkins.

This is Megan's monster pumpkin.  She picked three circle eyes, a triangle nose, and she wanted a sad face.  Megan was very proud of her pumpkin and kept bringing me more pumpkins to carve.

Rachel wanted a Velma pumpkin.  Velma from Scooby Doo.  There weren't any good pumpkin carving examples of Velma, but I printed out a coloring picture.  Will did an awesome job making this pumpkin.

And Whitney wanted a Scooby Doo pumpkin.  This one turned out well also, and was easier because there were templates on the Internet.  

Anyway, those are our pumpkins.  We had fun making them.  And then we had a very late dinner of nachos and chili. Hooray for pumpkin season!

October Festival

It has been a long time since our last blog post, but we haven't gone out to do much.  We still mostly go to the park or I stay busy doing things for my calling.  But yesterday was a fun day.  We went down to the Tri-Cities because I saw something in the newspaper about a free fall festival.

Of course, the big pumpkin shaped jump house was a big hit.  The girls are experts at bounce houses.  Even Megan automatically starts taking off her shoes when she sees one.

Checking to see how tall the girls have grown.  Whitney is like 3 1/2 feet, Rachel is like 3 1/4 feet, and Megan is like 2 3/4 feet.  Hooray for growing bigger.

In the straw maze and trying to decide which way to go.

Poor lost Megan.  She wasn't really lost; we stayed right by her.  It was only Whitney that actually got lost in the straw maze.

They had an apple press and the kids got make some apple juice.  I didn't try turning it but it looked fun.

Petting some of the animals that were at the festival.  The kids got to pet ponies and chickens and bunnies.

All of the girls got to ride a pony.  They love the chance to ride on ponies, but don't get very many opportunities.  So this was a treat.  All three girls were all smiles as they rode.

You cannot really tell but this was on the hayride (notice the pumpkin face paint).

There were a lot of carnival games that the girls could play and earn some candy and prizes.  Fishing was my favorite as a kid.  I think my girls really like it too.

Shooting a ball down a rain gutter.  This only took a lot of adult help.  There were a bunch of other games too.  We really scored on the Halloween candy today.

And finally a family picture.  My mom came to the festival with us, which was fun.  But she opted out of the picture.  Thanks for coming mom.

Anyway, it was a really fun day.  We were all exhausted by the end.  We will have to go back next year because free fun is always good.