We planted pumpkins this year for the girls. The only problem was that we started about a month late. We kind of tossed the idea around for a bit and missed our chance to get some already started seedlings then decided that we would go ahead after all and went out and got seeds. By the way, what a complete rip off that business is. We paid $2.50 and got exactly 8 seeds. Do you know how many pumpkin seeds you can get from one pumpkin?! Never again.
So we had to let the pumpkins ripen on the vine as long as possible so that we can be sure to get some developed seeds to use for next year.
In fact, we waited until Halloween morning. Incidentally, do you know how different it is to cut up a fresh pumpkin? First it smells, great! The walls of the pumpkin are a lot thicker too which made it a little harder to carve. But it's not slimy inside at all. It is thick, soft and fleshy. We come to find out that the reason that it is usually slimy when you clean out a store bought pumpkin is because it is already starting to rot from the inside out! Gross, huh? That's why they mold so fast after carving it up. I think our pumpkins only lasted a couple of days last year before beginning to mold.
Caitlyn got to do some real pumpkin carving this year. She's been too young before to do too much. But we ended up having to finish their pumpkins for them because they spent all day cleaning up 10 minutes worth of toys in the backyard so that we would have room to work.
There were a lot of underdeveloped seeds in the pumpkin still but there is still enough good ones to work with and enough for a small batch of roasted pumpkin seeds to boot!
We had the kids take a little nap before the festivities because we knew it would be a long night.
First we went to the Dean's party where we got to catch up with a few old friends.
I was a bit upset though because I took a bunch more pictures especially as some of the other kids arrived but I had forgotten to change the mode on my camera and most of these shots came out somewhat blurry!
I wish we had been able to just end the night here but alas, the girls would have had a fit if we didn't score them some candy on Halloween of all nights. We left here and Christian dropped us off to the Halloween party at church. I always like this better than going door to door if I can help it because I don't have to worry about what the kids are getting. I was a little late dropping off some treats I had brought to the party but apparently they would not have missed it since there was a whole room with the floor almost completely filled with other treats.
We didn't miss any of the trick or treating yet though because there was a chili cook off as well and people were still eating. Caitlyn and I ate at the previous party so I had to get Emily to eat some stuff before the sugar fest started.
Christian went back to the house to prepare for trick or treaters that we thought might be going into our neighborhood. He hastily decorated the front and put up some red lights in the front and it came out amazing. Too bad he ended up wasting most of his time and we are stuck with even more treats as only a few people came by. I think we got more trick or treaters in our old neighborhood.
At church they had a bunch of games and decorated some of the smaller classrooms to trick or treat in. The girls had a blast but it was crowded and crazy.
I was exhausted before we left and felt like another wave of sickness was starting to take hold. It nearly put me over when Caitlyn fell down and I had to carry her halfway home from church. But she calmed down and we still went trick or treating at a couple of our immediate neighbors houses for good measure! They wanted to do more, but I just didn't have it in me plus it was starting to get late.
The girls got to choose a piece of candy from their stash to eat and they spread them out on the floor to survey. This is only part of their stuff as their pumpkin buckets was nearly full. Don't let the pictures fool you. They just spread them out too much to fit in the picture. Plus Emily had more that she didn't even get a chance to sort.
By the time I got the girls washed up and ready for bed, I had about had it, the virus or whatever I was fighting was starting to really kick my butt.
It didn't help that we didn't know about the time change and ended up dragging our butts to church an hour early the next day despite feeling sick and having to come back home again only to do it again an hour later when we realized what had happened. But we survived long enough to teach our classes and drag our butts home for a nap afterwards. We are still working on recovering.
It was still a little warm out but overall a pretty nice day when the cloud cover was thick enough. We got to see somebody in a C-17 cargo plane practicing taking off and landing a few times at March Air Force Reserve Base next door.
The kids were pretty excited. They always loved running outside to see the planes at the local air show from our old house. This was a little closer than they've had opportunity to see so far. I think they are definitely ready to go see an airshow. We took Emily to the air show at March when she was really young but I don't think she really remembers it. We managed to get to the airshow at Edwards once but we left the kids with grandma. It was a bit disappointing anyway. They supposedly kept setting these records but you didn't really notice anything.
Oh, and leave it up to Emily to find an airplane named "Princess."
Caitlyn thought it was a little loud at first but really got into it after. They also got to see several propeller planes. We think that they must have done a fly by over the cemetery.
Caitlyn thought it was a little loud at first but really got into it after. They also got to see several propeller planes. We think that they must have done a fly by over the cemetery.
