In order to get into the fall and Halloween spirit we took a trip to a local pumpkin farm near Carnation Washington. Although we forgot our camera to document the trip we can tell you that Ashton loved the farm. We took a horse drawn wagon out to the pumpkin patch where he picked out one of the most perfectly shaped pumpkins. A tractor pulled our wagon back from the patch and after paying for our pumpkins Ashton rode a pony named Stormy. Like any good pumpkin farm this one had a huge catapult that they used to fling rotting pumpkins and watermelons high up into the air. It was quite a crowd pleaser for adults and children alike. Ashton was in awe.
We carved the pumpkins the following weekend. Heidi outfitted Ashton in a garbage bag to keep him clean but he really didn’t have any interest in getting his hands dirty at all. He’s more the creative director type, telling us what kinds of faces he wanted to see on the pumpkins. He loved the sight of the nightly “glowing pumpkins.” Together, we lit them each night before Halloween. The pumpkins were displayed on the front steps surrounded by random cow bones. Our neighbors don’t know quite what to think.
Given Ashton’s recent fascination with ponies, and the fact that we had a pair of red cowboy boots given to us from Heidi’s friend Carol, it only seemed appropriate that Ashton dress as a cowboy for Halloween. As you can see the emphasis was on the COW portion of cow-boy. Each time we dressed him in the costume it took a little encouragement, but as soon as the hat and boots were on, he became a natural cowboy… loving to hear the click of his boots on the hardwood floors.
We went to a neighborhood church’s Halloween festival where they had lots of games, crafts and believe it or not, pony rides in the parking lot. Our little cowboy once again mounted the steed without fear. This time we remembered our camera to capture the moment. Ashton’s favorite game was the fishing pond game and whenever we talk about fishing, we talk about his Opa (grandpa Mader). We also made a jack ‘o lantern and Ashton won lots of candy as prizes from the games. You’d think we would have been tired after all that fun (and we were), but we made a couple more trick or treating stops before retiring for the night. A must stop was to the Blankenship house (our former neighbors). We had to get another picture of Ashton and his buddy Evan. They were just as cute as last year. Our final stops were at neighborhood houses and of course they supplied him with more candy! He came home with quite a stash in his feedbag.
The evening ended with us convincing Ashton that he couldn’t have any candy before going to bed but that he could have some in the morning for breakfast. Now, what kind of parent would allow candy for breakfast?
