End of Summer . . .Beginning of Fall

The summer is ending, right?! - A few of the trees here in town have started to change into their fall colors and the nights have been cooler, but the last couple of days our weather has jumped into the 90's. (Which pretty much doubles the number of days we were in the 90's this summer.) We took advantage of our chance to bask in the heat, so headed to the farms 15 minutes outside of town to have some fun this last weekend. The last of the fall produce is coming in right now making the farm stores a feast of fresh fruits and vegetables. R's- favorite was the giant Honey Crisp apples (I've never seen apples this big!), while the girls enjoyed picking fresh strawberries. We bought enough fruit to have fruit salad the for the next week. Also at the farms are the corn mazes which are almost ready, along with the pumpkins.

The next farming event that the girls are really looking forward to is the Giant Pumpkin festival in the beginning of October. It is a three day celebration / carnival that culminates in a contest for the biggest pumpkin here in the northwest. Last year we took them on the final day when they have the pumpkin contest and the car smashing. There are hay mazes, games, and lots of those blow-up fun houses along with food vendors. (Deep-fried cinnamon apple fries with vanilla ice cream, are really good.) The winner for biggest pumpkin was over 1300 pounds, and to add to the fun they take one of the (smaller) losers, hoist it up by a crane, and SPLAT! - the car loses.

Our kids are already in high gear cruising towards Halloween. We keep telling them it is still too far away to think about, but . . . every time we go to the store their checking out the Halloween aisle. I've lost count on how many different things they have decided to be. Last I heard Lulu wanted to be a Goblin, and Red wanted to be a Fairy Witch. (I personally think it is all just based on what is in front of them at the store at that moment.) -CRW

** The pumpkin picture was taken at last year's (2006) Giant Pumpkin Festival.