Halloween Harvest Home

This year for Halloween, we made the trek to a local farm that has a pumpkin patch and other fun things for the family. This place came recommended by several long time residents, and it did not disappoint - we had a lot of fun together. Here we are scouting out the best pumpkins we could find after the tractor pulled us out to the patch on a hay wagon ride.

And here is the winning pumpkin that we took home!

Me and the girls:

Tanja and Karina (Lydia was too squirmy and kept wandering around getting into mischief):

One of the most exciting parts of the outing was the hay ride and being pulled by the tractor. It was very bumpy and the girls loved bouncing up and down. Lydia kept saying "tractor" over and over again.

There were a few animals in a petting zoo area, and Lydia got very excited to see them and make animal sounds at them. I think she neighed at the pony and baaed at the sheep. Here she is with the cow, but I don't think she has mooed yet.

Karina was just excited to have a corn pit that she could jump into the corn kernels and play. She was quite dirty afterward.

There was a corn "maze" - it really was a path cut through the field without any turns required. We gathered corn there to give to the chickens.

Riding the hay ride back to the farm:

Time to grind the corn for the chickens - we didn't really do that well with it, but it was fun anyway.

The finished product that Tanja and Karina made for our jack-o-lantern. This was Tanja's first time carving a pumpkin on her own - I think she did a great job. Karina had insisted that her jack-o-lantern couldn't be scary - it had to be silly. Mission accomplished.

The girls had several chances to wear costumes. First came the church Halloween party/trunk or treat. Here we are walking around in the costume parade with Karina as Princess Anna from Frozen and Lydia as G.I. Jane with her camo skirt and Army-style jacket.

Then came the neighborhood Halloween party - Lydia was a fairy princess and Karina was Sleeping Beauty.

Finally, it was time for the big night - the girls went again as Sleeping Beauty and a fairy princess (though they were a little more bundled up against the chill).

We went trick or treating within the neighborhood and the girls lasted about an hour. Lydia was really cute and got so excited chanting "ticker" (her approximation of "trick-or-treat") over and over again with a huge smile on her face. Karina was happy too, going from door to door and taking her job of ringing the doorbell very seriously.

For our own records as much as anything, Lydia has sprouted two new teeth on top.  Her total is now at 14, and numbers 15 and 16 on the bottom don't look to be far behind.