Pumpkins, Corn & Zombies

I really, really, really miss all the cider mills we used to visit in Michigan.  They had the most delicious fresh-pressed cider (unpasteurized of course!) and donuts.  They often also had fun things to do with the kids: stuff to climb on, mazes, etc.  Well, we haven't found a good source of cider here, but we do have a go-to place for Fall activities: Jakers pumpkin patch!

They recently moved to a new location (across the street) and massively expanded their operation.  They now have 2 huge tube slides that fall into a (dried) corn pit, along with tons of hay bales to climb on.

The whole thing is built with bales, in fact, so it's a kid's climbing paradise.

And the kids have discovered a little hideaway under the back of the slides that they enjoyed climbing into.

They of course have lots of animals to pet, including a kangaroo, hogs, llamas, and sometimes a reindeer.

You can purchase pumpkins-they have the standard orange ones, ghost ones, and even some weird gourds.  Our favorite are the ones that have warts on them...

Besides the corn pit that the slides fall into, there is a HUGE corn pit for the kids to just roll around in.

These two buried each other and then struggled to get out from under the weight of the corn.

There are a couple hay mazes, one little for the preschool age, and one bigger for older kids.  They even had a little "haunted trailer".  And our favorite, the tractor ride that goes around the perimeter of the field.  Best of all: everything is free.  In the end, it's the least we can do to get our pumpkins from there to help support such a great family-friendly operation.

Another source of pumpkins is the annual Pumpkin Plunge at Springville's Recreation Center.  Yes, they throw the pumpkins in the water and they float because they have air inside!  Some people think swimming with dolphins is cool--they've obviously never swum with pumpkins...

I enjoy pictures of Brynn swimming because she likes to wear a snorkel mask.  She hates getting water up her nose.

The three musketeers: Ash, Brynn & their neighbor friend that they play with daily.  Praise the Lord for neighbors with kids our kids' ages!

The first time Dade did this, I about had a heart attack.  I knew he had a life-jacket on, but it still surprised me.  And then he did it about 1000 times more, popping up like a cork each time with a huge grin on his face.

Poor patient dog: he got to be the Easter Bunny for Halloween so he can be the Easter Bunny again at Easter.  Notice how nicely his coat matches the costume's fake fur...

We randomly went to the Central Utah Gardens and they had this amazing pumpkin carving contest!  It was hard to pick a favorite.

But if I had to, this Kraken would probably be it...

This one made me think of Day of the Dead in South America.

Adia was probably at a x-country meet, so she's not in this pic.

And Halloween finally arrived much to everyone's excitement.  Derek was the Blue Screen of Death, I was a sorceress, Adia a minion, Ash a "dead princess", Sedona a witch, Brynn a zombie, Dade a pumpkin (everyone one of our kids has worn that costume at least once), and Sol, the Easter Bunny.  No theme, but great costumes each one!

I usually get a new nativity for Christmas each year as my main Christmas present.  This year, I got a fog machine.  (Sort of a sacrilegious trade I guess... :) 

We put up our Halloween lights and the black plastic tablecloths up to enclose the wrap-around porch and make a mini-Spook Alley.

Not that we make it all that scary since we don't want to freak out the little kids.

Still, a lot of the littles were pretty freaked out to walk into a dark tunnel with fog drifting around.

And the talking pumpkin that we do every year--we just stuff speakers under the table and run a line through the window to Derek's computer.  He turns on the voice distortion and voila, a "talking" pumpkin!

We had a nice fire rolling out front, and I decided to make hot chocolate for our friends that came by.  Sort of fit my persona as a witch/sorceress...

We didn't get a lot of trick-or-treaters this year.  It was pretty random, especially after being slammed the past two years.  But the kids all got in some serious walking, and this zombie looked and felt like a real zombie by the end of the night...