7th annual Pumpkins on The Beach!

It was so nice out Saturday evening, we decided our pumpkins just couldn't stay inside one minute longer.  We packed them up and headed out to the beach!!

We do this every year and each year, there seems to be something different that the kids find to do for fun.  This year, it was definitely tossing pumpkins in the air.

 The water temperature is still 78*.  They love getting in and I knew they'd be soaked within minutes.

 Since both little pumpkins ended up with cracks in them from the excitement, we left them on the dunes for the seagulls to snack on.

How about a bunch of flashbacks??  I'll throw in some photos with us to show you how much they have grown.  Click on the year to see the past blog entry with the photos from that year's Pumpkins on The Beach.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

18 years ago

It was pouring rain as we drove from Buffalo to Latham.  Today, it sprinkled here a bit.  Just enough to make Lew not have to mow the lawn.

I worked in the church nursery this morning.  The kids and Lew did a little yard work on the soggy lawn.  We watched football.  People played Webkinz and Minion Rush on various internet devices.  I sewed a Halloween costume for a friend's son.  Then, we went out to dinner.  Lew ordered stuffed chicken.  Carl had mini cheeseburgers.  Gretchen ordered a peanut butter and apple sandwich and I had cinnamon-chipotle pork chop with mango margarita glaze on a maple sweet potato puree with deep fried okra.  18 years ago, I ordered pork chops in  Cajun jerk seasoning with a mango vinegrette.  Honestly, I do not think I have ordered pork chops in a restaurant other than these 2 times.  All our food tonight was delicious.

Happy Anniversary to us!!

1995.....
Lew's dinner.  Top sirloin marinated in dijon and cracked pepper.  (it really does help to write on the back of photos)

my pork chops in Cajun jerk seasoning with mango vinegrette

2013......
Lew's dinner.  Chicken stuffed with bacon, cheddar and havarti topped with barbecue sauce served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.

my cinnamon chipotle pork chop with mango margarita glaze served with deep fried okra on a maple-bourbon sweet potato puree

September 1995

September 2013....  Carl had a headache and his medicine hadn't kicked in yet.

good students

a quick bike ride today

This morning, we did the Home Depot Kids' Build workshop.  Then, after lunch, we loaded the bikes into the car and headed to the school playground to see if they remembered how to ride.  Gretchen took off...  and then, after a few laps, Lew did stop her long enough to raise her seat.  Carl's bike was also not as high as it seemed at the beginning of the summer.  Well, we have been feeding them - and there was that day a week ago when we met friends at the school playground after school when it poured cats and dogs and all the kids played out in the rain and got soaked together.  Add in the water park time - and all that counts as "watering them", too.

Carl grumbled at first, of course.  After all, he is Carl.  I will never be able to steer.  I will never be able to ride this bike.  (blah blah blah... get back on the bike, Boy.)  When he did, he rode completely around the track without stopping at all.  Awesome!!!  Then, he crashed into a fence.  Not awesome.  So, Gretchen kept riding, but Carl stopped.  I borrowed his bike without raising the seat and rode around once.  Then, Lew rose the seat up and he rode several times around, too.  There are pictures of both Lew and I riding.  You will not need to view all of those.

After I toss these picture up here, we're heading to the water park for the last Saturday of the season.  Weekends here are anything but relaxing!