Halloween is almost here. You know it. I know it. Alden certainly knows us. She asks us every fifteen minutes or so how long it is until Halloween happens. So every fifteen minutes we do the math and tell her. Fortunately, this weekend, Chestertown threw a pre-Halloween festivity meant to sate the mounting anticipation (that surely must extend beyond my own household).
The pumpkin-themed activities were many. Alden headed straight for the pumpkin-decorating table. The charge: select a pumpkin and indicate with a sharpie where the eyes, nose, mouth, etc. are supposed to be. The idea being that a sure-handed adult with a knife would then do the actual carving.
Alden’s pumpkin did not have a traditional face.
For this, I love her very much.
Special thanks to Tim for his patience with her masterpiece.
When she was done with her pumpkin, Alden joined Kato on the pumpkin mini golf course.
Kato got a hole in one. On his 37th try.
And then we moved on to pumpkin bocce.
Which, given the decided irregularity of the pumpkin’s shape, is a lot harder that you might think.
Apparently, there was a pumpkin witch doctor, but I did not see him. Her? It?
Unless it was animatronic Medusa, with whom Kato had a lengthy conversation.
Meanwhile, Alden was back to pumpkin decorating, this time armed with a paintbrush.
Again, her decorations were not of the obvious sort.
Meanwhile, Robbi and I busied ourselves with guessing the weight of this enormous pumpkin.
Before placing our guesses, we did a little research.
We were both utterly defeated in our attempts to lift the pumpkin.
Which led both of us to grossly overestimate its weight. I guessed 168 pounds. The actual weight was 92. As it turns out, I’m just incredibly weak.
Another highlight of the pumpkin party? A pumpkin-based recipe contest.
Robbi had spent the entire morning preparing no-bake pumpkin balls.
I can attest that they were delicious.
But the competition appeared stiff. Pumpkin pops.
Pumpkin cake with edible spider on top.
Pumpkin cheesecake.
And this tasty looking number. I’m talking about the cake, of course. This gorgeous cake that was not, apparently, to Robbi’s liking.
She was also down on the pumpkin pops.
I wish I could tell you who won, but unfortunately, we had to head home for a group nap before the judging happened. Given that no one has showed up at our doorstep with a million dollar check, we’re guessing that the no-bake pumpkin balls were not victorious.
Before we left, we stopped to admire the pumpkin lineup. The plan was to visit with them again later in the day.
At 6:30pm, we and the majority of the kid set converged on Fountain Park for a screening of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
All along the ground in front of the screen sat all those pumpkins.
It was a beautiful scene.
I wish I could show you a photo of Alden’s pumpkin lit up with all the rest, but its candle had already burned out. Must have been all that ventilation.
