Syracuse City Annual Pumpkin Walk

Our family was originally planning on going to the pumpkin walk on friday. Our neighbors and friends invited us to go with them a day earlier on thursday which was opening night of the pumpkin walk. Reed was called off from work and so we took them up on their offer and went to the pumpkin walk. It was CRAZY!!! We actually ended up spending over an hour in line before we even got to the entrance. The actual pumpkin walk was HUGE!! There were hundreds of pumpkins that were carved by the community.

This is at the entrance. Pretty cute little characters.

These two were my favorite.

The police force was dressed up at Star Wars Characters. The kids got pictures by EVERY different set. Isaac was in Star Wars Heaven.

Storm Trooper and Captain Rex (Honestly, I didn't know some of these characters but, Isaac sure did!)

Here is the official entrance.

I love this one because it says "neighborhood witch". I thought it was cute.

The kids took time to look at every pumpkin. The walk was slow enough that you could really enjoy each one. Here's some of our favorites.

I wish this picture had turned out better. You can vaguely see Joseph Smith and Presiden Monson. They were SO COOL! Too bad my picture didn't.

This was one of the boy's favorites.

The kids all thought this one was REALLY scary.

On the corners of the walk there were TONS of pumpkins. I couldn't believe how many pumpkins had been carved by the community.

Some tables were set up with special THEMED displays.

Kaden loved this one from Toy Story.

I loved the little guys from the movie despicable me.

Isn't he SO cute! I thought they were so funny in the movie.

This is what Isaac is being for Halloween. Optimus Prime.

The sesame street gang.

Fun Monster.

Isaac loved the one of the video game control. Shocking...REALLY!!

This is what Kaden is going to be for Halloween. BATMAN!!

Some of the pumpkins were so intricate....they really spent some time.

I had never seen a pumpkin like this before...pretty creative.

Who doesn't love Oscar the Grouch!?!

At the end of the pumpkin walk the Syracuse Royalty was handing out a little bag of candy to the kids.

Althought the wait was really long....the kids really enjoyed looking at all the pumpkins. This is an event we will have to make an annual event for our family. By the time we got home...the kids went right to bed. Not too bad for the parents either!

The local police force dressed up as various Star Wars Characters....they were REALLY cool looking and Isaac wanted a picture by all of them. Kaden was a little intimidated by the guy in the black mask.

Great Evening and even greater ideas for pumpkin carving. Although...I don't know if we'll spend as much time as some of those people spent on some of those pumpkins...they were pretty detailed. Pretty cool!!

Black Island Farms and UEA Weekend

For UEA weekend we had a few family member come to visit and play. We had enough that we could get the group rate to go to black island farms and had a GREAT time. Abbie and Isaac absolutely loved the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch. 

This is their silly faces as we rode the wagon. You guys crack me up. 

It was beautiful as we rode out to the pumpkin patch. The sun had just set and created this beautiful orange horizon above the corn stocks. 

Kaden found his perfect pumpkin. 

Abbie found her perfect pumpkin and even had it carried back by the tractor driver (it was his job to cut the pumpkins from their vine and he helped the little ones with their HUGE pumpkins back to the wagon). 

Everyone loading up once they had found their pumpkin. 

Abbie showing me her pumpkin! 

Grandpa and Kaden enjoying the wagon ride. 

Here's our family with our pumpkins. Everyone was loading their pumpkins once they got back from the pumpkin patch so we got a nice set of head lights in our family picture. 

Jordan, Dad and Mom with their BIG pumpkins. Didn't get a picture of my sister and her family. They were already off to take their pumpkins to the car by the time we got off the wagon.

The kids REALLY enjoyed the animals. 

Abbie even petted a donkey with no fear. She loved it...and apparently it's VERY SOFT! 

We did the kids maze with hay bails. The rules were to only make left turns. That sorta worked but, everyone made it out okay. 

The kids favorite part about the yard is the enormous slides! 

As soon as they got to the bottom of the slide they were off to climb up the back side and do it again. 

Jordan doing the grain chute! 

Reed and Kaden doing the grain chute! 

Isaac kept throwing his coat down first and then would slide down after it. 

The men took their aim and shot at some birds(aka metal shapes to look like birds) on top of some bails of hay with corn cobs for ammunition. It was really fun to watch! 

You always have to do the train ride....it's a classic.  Every car is a different animal and you get to ride through the corn stalks. The kids LOVED doing this! 

There is even a sandbox full of corn kernels. The kids all ganged up on dad while he was making a snow angel in the kernels. It was pretty funny! 

Of course you can't go to black island farms and not do the corn maze. We were wiser this year and did phase 1 (last year we did the last phase and were lost for an hour and a half) and had a great time getting lost. 

Then Reed, Jordan, John and some friends decided to do the second phase by RUNNING through it. They were trying to see who could do it the fastest. The rest of us stayed back and enjoyed the pig races. 

Isaac, Abbie and cousin Rian were able to be chosen as volunteers to help their pig win the race. Isaac's came in second and he won a spider ring. 

Abbie's pig won and she won a pig nose. This is her showing me her best silly piggy face. Too cute! 

Black Island Farm was a blast and it was the start to our UEA(fall break) weekend. 

The next day the men went pheasant hunting somewhere north of here. They shot 5 birds and we ended up making it into really tasty jerky. They said the brush was really tall but they had a good time. 

The next afternoon we went and harvested the rest of our pumpkins in our garden. 

Each of the children picked which one they liked best. This was Isaac's pick. 

Kaden chose this one.

Abbie's Pick.  

That afternoon after Reed was awake from working all night. We headed up Farmington Canyon to see the fall colors and have a picnic. 

We took some family pictures and some senior pictures of Jordan but, I will post those later OR you might just get one in your christmas card. Hee Hee

We had such a fun time having grandma and grandpa and Jordan for the weekend. It was great to see so much of my sister and her family that lives pretty close. Thanks for coming. We loved that we got to spend so much time with all of you...it was a real treat. It's always fun to stay up late playing games and watching movies. Making some yummy treats and just enjoying being together as a family. Love you all and thanks for all the fun new memories.