Hayride and Jack-o-lanterns!

On Saturday we took the kids to a fun hayride in Castlewood Park. We got there a few minutes early, so the kinds played around in the leaves. I don't know why we haven't come here more. It's less than 5 minutes from our house, and just beautiful.

Ready for the ride. It was a fun little ride, along part of the road, and then through a field and over to the boat launch area. Once we got there, we had hotdogs and chili for dinner, and doughnuts and hot chocolate for dessert. 

There was a guy playing the guitar and singing fun songs with the kids, and also a balloon artist. Evie asked him for a moon, but he said he couldn't make that, so he did a ladybug bracelet for her instead. She loved it, but chewed on it on the way home and popped one of the eyes, so I had to take it away from her.

Kiersten was really excited about her pink pony!

And Kara requested a bumble bee. I couldn't get a decent picture of it, because she was determined to have a picture of it stinging her. 

We tried going on a walk in the dark with the girls, but for some reason, Kara was terrified of being attacked by deer. We kept assuring her deer wouldn't attack us, and even if they did, Daddy could easily kick them away, since we don't have very large deer around. But she insisted that her teacher told her deer can stomp people to death. We actually walked right by 4 deer on our way out of the park, and of course, they ran off as soon as we were close. 

After dinner, the kids got to roast marshmallows. I was surprised Evie didn't really care to roast one, or eat much of the one I made for her. but the big girls loved it. We were the first ones to leave, right after the last group of hayriders arrived. But the kids were happy and content, and had done all of the activities, so we headed home to enjoy the rest of the evening. 

Kara and Kiersten talked us into carving pumpkins last night. We kept delaying and postponing, and I was feeling bad about it, so I'm glad they finally got to do it. Kara loved cleaning the guts out of hers, and didn't want any help from me. kiersten just wanted Ben to do it all for her, so she didn't have to get yucky. 

Ben bought a caring kit with glow in the dark paint. So we did partially carved, partially painted pumpkins. Ben and I did the carving, and the girls applied the paint. Kara was a little impatient while I was tracing the area for her to paint, and said, "what's the point of carving pumpkins if I don't even get to do anything?" But all it took was a warning from Ben that she go to bed early, and she was happy to wait. 

the glow in the dark paint turned out not to glow too well. Luckily, Kara's cat cut out looks fine, even if the moon isn't visible. 

But Kiersten's kitty face looked a little weird without being able to see the paint. You can't really tell what it is in the dark. I think maybe they'll glow more tonight, after being in the sun all day. But if not, then Ben will have to do some more carving to Kiersten's so it looks better at night. 

Evie was asleep, so she didn't get to paint her little pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. So I didn't let Kiersten do hers either. Hopefully we'll have time to do them tonight or tomorrow. Though I'm not sure when, as the rest of the week is pretty packed, but I guess we'll just have to make time.