Pumptoberfest 2010

Another successful Pumptoberfest! Can't wait 'til next year!

Andi, Marissa, Diane, Mariel, & I in the apple orchards

Al in the pumpkin patch

The Leonard family in the corn maize

Mariel, Jon, Paul, Marissa, Andi, Mia, & Diane in the Maize

Matt, hiding in the corn

Carving Pumpkins


Dahla chasing darts

Not quite the turnout of last year, but there's always next year!

Merrymeetting Lake

Matt, Finn, and I were lucky enough to get away for a night up to New Hampshire with Matt's parents & his sister Corey. Finn took his first swim in the lake. Matt, Corey, and I visited Meredith at the stables & went horseback riding. It was a nice little getaway.

Are we there yet?


On the boat

Fishing

Finn tries swimming with Daddy

Diane & Corey canoeing with Jack

Matt & Jack

Horseback Riding

Corey

Corey, the Horse Whisperer

Pumptoberfest '09

The second annual Pumptoberfest was a success. Pumptoberfest came around as a complete and total accident. Last year, Matt and I planned on attending Pumpkinfest in Keene, NH. We had planned to meet up with my AmeriCorps friends, Kate and Kelly, in Keene. Bad weather kept us home and we ended up setting up a tent in the back yard and having our own "Pumptoberfest". We went to the farm down the street and bought some pumpkins, set up the tent next to a roaring campfire, carved pumpkins, had a few drinks, roasted pumpkin seeds, and had a nice, relaxing night.

Since last year's Pumptoberfest was such a nice time, we decided to repeat it this year, adding in some other traditions to make a real day of it. Kate wasn't able to join us from Long Island this time, but Kelly made it up with her boyfriend Ashley. The plans were to hit up Connors Farm in Danvers. There we would pick apples, choose some pumpkins, and run the corn maize before coming back to our house to carve pumpkins and have a few drinks. The farm started out simple enough with only five of us, no apples on the trees, a few too many pumpkins, and a fantastic corn maize.

In the apple-less orchard

Kel, Ashley, Mariel, Matt, & I in the Corn Maize

We came back to the house to carve some pumpkins out in the backyard.

I made this really cool haunted tree.

Somehow, this simple get-together of a few people sporadically turned into a party. A few other people showed up, and in the end.. well, I think the last time I stayed up until 4am had to have been sometime in college, but I can't even remember doing it then. Pumptoberfest lasted into the wee hours of the morning with some really great company, Guitar Hero, foosball, lasagna, apple crisp, pumpkin seeds, and plenty of drinks. What started out as a simple get-together sort of turned into a bit of a bash, but it was wonderfully fun & I'm already excited for Pumptoberfest '10. Maybe I'll get tee-shirts made up!:-p

Matt & Joe... with all those empty bottles of tonic water....

Foosball
The love of my life<3>

Welcome Fall!

Fall is here! As much as I love the warm weather and the summer cook-outs, I love fall, too. I think it's because there's so much to do during this time of year and it flies by. There's apple-picking and pumpkin carving and corn maizes and little children in costumes... Traditions and families... There's beautiful foliage, comfort foods like apple crisp, and the holidays right around the corner. As soon as I could, I dragged Matt into the attic with me to pull down decorations. So exciting!

Damon with my pirate Scooby Doo

Our Bay Window