Rites of Fall

Hello there, is it fall? I guess it must be fall because we are at Evans Orchard for one of our annual visits. This marks at least seven consecutive autumn visits to this orchard, and in that span of time it just gets bigger and bigger and crazier and crazier. We have our rituals where we check out the pumpkins, run around the playground, and see if there is anything new. Most years we are successful in avoiding any livestock or animal rides, and this year was thankfully no different.

This picture is a little hard to believe because we have a picture of Callie by the pumpkins here every single year, including when she was only a couple of weeks old.  The pumpkins used to seem so big next to her, and now it is the other way around.  Reese is a little bit more feisty and isn't so easy to capture in these kinds of still life poses.

The biggest new addition to the orchard this year was an enormous air trampoline that was built into the ground and allowed for what seemed like hundreds of kids to jump all over it.  It truly was an unbelievable sight to behold.  The girls could not get enough of it.  However, the jumping did end with an "arm injury" that Reese milked for probably two hours before it was magically healed by some unseen miracle worker.  It was an impressive theatrical performance by the little one that had her parents strategizing about a possible ER visit.  Other than that, the day was filled with fun and we were able to get a couple of pumpkins which was the main goal of the trip anyway.

As the girls get older so many different activities get even more enjoyable, and pumpkin carving is right up there.  Although they don't have the knife skills yet to carve the faces they do like to get their hands into the guts of the pumpkins.  You can tell that they had a lot of fun dealing with all of the slimy pumpkin innards.  And at this point it really looked like they were going to be a big help.

However it was only a matter of time when their silly, goofy sides overtook their work ethic.  Reese found it quite amusing to put the top of the pumpkin on her head and was more than willing to pose with it.  This was the type of activity that took place while John and Sarah were doing their best to bring the pictures drawn by the girls to life.

The end results were received well by Reese and Callie, even if they don't reach the intricate levels of master carvers.  It was nice to get pumpkins out on the front porch a couple of nights before Halloween arrived.  We must say that we embrace jolly pumpkins more than we do scary ones.  We are a treat more than a trick household.

Speaking of treats, who wants a cupcake?  This cute picture here is in part the result of some quality conversations that ensured Reese would be happy wearing one of the hand me down costumes her older sister had worn before.  Let us first say that Reese was very happy with her costume on the night of Halloween.  But we have to admit that in the days leading up to the event we tried to ignore it when she would tell people that she was going to be a cupcake because "that's what Mommy wants me to be."  So much for clever manipulation.

Ironically enough, Callie also embraced the candy theme as well as the hand me down theme this year.  One of Sarah's co-workers mentioned that she had a candy fairy costume and Sarah knew it was just the type of costume Callie would love to wear.  Although we had already purchased a cat costume for Callie, we gladly put it aside for this year so that she could spend the night dreaming of lollipops and other sugary goodness.  The only downfall to this costume quickly came when middle school kids asked Sarah if Callie was dressed up as Katy Perry.  That's when Sarah bit her tongue, sipped the wine in her travel mug, and pointed out that Callie was a candy fairy.

This year Halloween started out raining and chilly and ended up cold and sleeting.  In short, this was the type of night that we carried an umbrella and expected the girls would want to go home quickly.  Much to our surprise our girls are willing to tough out quite a bit when the prize is candy.  Any time Reese mentioned she was cold we would ask if she wanted to get any more candy and her eyes would light up and the cold weather would be forgotten.

And because of their persistence the night ended with quite a sizable amount of booty.  The activities following our journey through the neighborhood included the traditional sorting and bartering.  And because it was Friday, we then we topped it all off by watching a movie.  All in all, it was a great Halloween.