pumpkin carving

The past couple of years I haven't bothered carving a pumpkin because I figured Ethan was too young to appreciate it.  Plus, let's face it, it's kind of a pain in the rear.  It seems like it's going to be all fun and games until you're about halfway into scooping out the pumpkin innards and you realize it's never going to be completely cleaned out, and you'd rather just start carving already, but then your hand starts cramping and two hours later you're still not done.  Or maybe that's just for the overly anal people like me?

Anyway, on Sunday night Ethan was getting bored and antsy, so I looked up at the clock to discover it was still a couple of hours until bedtime.  Then the pumpkin we had picked up at HEB a week ago caught my eye, and despite all the pains I mentioned in the first paragraph, I decided to give it a go.

I cut out the top of the pumpkin and began to scrape when Cory came in to help us.  He was actually enjoying the scooping out, so I let him at it and Ethan helped too.  This is when I noticed that BOTH of them were super excited about this whole thing, so I had to ask Cory, "When's the last time you carved a pumpkin?"  Silence. 

Yep, it's true, NEITHER of my guys had ever before carved a pumpkin. Cory tried to think long and hard back to his childhood, but he really couldn't remember ever doing it.  Boggles my mind.  He actually said he really didn't even know how carving was done.  So, I let him pick the design and started the carving part, but then I decided since Cory was a rookie and all, maybe he should get in on some of the pain, I mean fun.

The whole experience definitely renewed my love of carving pumpkins.  They were both so excited to do it and to see what it looked like all finished and lit up.  Definitely a winning night.

scooping with Daddy

helping Mommy

the finished product

Pumpkin Patch

(Can it be true?  Am I actually blogging about something that happened less that a week ago?  That has to be the first time that's happened this year).

So yes, the pumpkin patch.  We visited Evergreen Farms in Elgin last year around this time, and we had a pretty good time so we headed back this year with a couple friends.  I thought Ethan would enjoy the activities a little more now that he's older, and I think he did.  We did the hay ride/pumpkin hunt where they take you out to the Christmas trees and you hunt for baby pumpkins.  We also ponied up the big bucks so we could all ride the vintage fire truck.  They gave all the kiddos fire hats and even used the siren and hose.  Ethan thought it was pretty cool and talked about it for a couple of days, so I'm glad we did it.

the first pretty good "pumpkin patch" photo we managed to get

showing Daddy how good he is at the balance beam, just like in dance class

Ethan and his buddy Dax cracking up in the patch

another cute pumpkin patch picture

getting ready for the hay ride (with no hay, obvi)

hunting for pumpkins

on the fire truck

checking out the fire truck one last time before we leave

I really love fall and all the fun activities that come along with it.  We've already attended one Halloween party and we have another tomorrow, so I'll hopefully be sharing pictures soon.

The rest of the San Antonio Trip

I'm really trying to get back on top of this blog thing, but I'm pretty miserable at it.  I'm working on it, I promise.

Anyway, we did do more in San Antonio than just go to the zoo. I was able to spend a couple evenings out with some friends from college and Cory and I had a night out for a wedding.  Our days were jam-packed as well, as we hit all the typical San Antonio spots.

We stayed right on the riverwalk, so we spent time shopping and eating along the river.
  We also decided to take the boat tour (even though my mom and I had been on it about a bajillion times), but Cory hadn't and Ethan enjoyed it.

Me and E on the Riverwalk

listening to the music near the mall

Ethan doing his "I'm excited" face and hands as we waited for the boat ride to begin

 The next day we decided to head across the street to the Alamo and explore some Texas history.  Since we'd all been there before (minus Ethan), we just took a quick walk around and looked at a handful of exhibits which we appreciated much more as adults versus when we were elementary school students on a boring field trip.

the Alamo

 The last day we were there, we went over to The Market.  This was basically an excuse for Nana to spoil Ethan some more, and he ended up with a super cute dog marionette and an awesome kid sized guitar.  He loves both, and he made Daddy open the guitar right away so he could play with it.

learning to play his guitar

a family picture at The Market

It was a pretty nice little getaway and I'm glad we decided to make a long weekend out of the wedding.