Pumpkin patch, carving, baking and other fun

Since I had Thursday and Friday off for a teacher's convention that I do not attend, John took off, too and we both took off for Oshkosh to spend time with our favorite granddaughter, Tizita.
We decided that a trip to the pumpkin patch was in order. The day started out rainy and cool, but the sun was shining by the time we arrived at the The Little Farmer. It took us a little while to get acclimated, but once we got our bearings we were on our way. Here we are headed out to the pumpkin patch to choose our perfect pumpkins.

We needed to rest on this nice swing for a little bit on the way to the patch.

There was a huge play area with Trek Trikes. Tizita had the best time riding the bike around the track.

And around and around and around. It took a bit of convincing to have her move on to other activities.

After a nice picnic lunch we followed her through the corn maze. It took us awhile to figure out how to get around, but we finally

made it to the exit. It was a fun maze with many cute little signs to point the way. Tizita really enjoyed it and would have enjoyed doing it again, but we had other things to do.

There were cute little goats to feed.

This was a cool way to feed the goats. You had to fill the can with feed and wheel it way up to the top where a goat would climb the ladder and eat your feed.

Tizita would have taken all these pumpkin homes, but we limited her to four.

On the way home we stopped at the lighthouse in Fond du Lac. Unfortunately, we were not able to climb up to the top due to its closing early, but it was till fun to see a lighthouse up close and personal.

As soon as we got home, we started the process of carving our pumpkins. It is a messy job, but somebody has to do it. Tizita was a great helper and she made my job easy.

Here are the finished products. That is mama on the left, then Tizita who happens to be the biggest and the only one with teeth, then papa who has a disappointed face because of his students, (not sure what that means, I just do what I am told), and finally, the last one is Nathnael.
And there you have it, the Van Auken family in jack-o-lanterns!

After the carving, we made Halloween cut out cookies. There was flour everywhere, but the fun we had more than made up for the mess.

Courtney helped with the frosting as she always does and true to form, it took her a long time to finish just one cookie. Sure her cookies might look better than ours, but we have to keep the line moving!

Here are a few of Tizita and my cookies

and this is one of Courtney's masterpieces! No matter who did the best decorating, we all were sugared up by the end, which is what makes a successful cookie baking/decorating event.

And here is our little princess all ready for a Halloween party!

It was another great time with Tizita.

Note to Natnael: Grandpa and I cannot until you join us at the pumpkin patch, too. Tizita talked a lot about how it will be when you are with us next year. Stay healthy and happy until your family comes for you. See you soon.