The Pumpkin Experience

It would appear that Halloween is a rather large event here in the UK. Apparently it has only been so large in the last few years... boy, has it taken off then! Having come from the land of Oz, where Halloween is still trying to take off, seeing the festivities that are available here is really amazing. So, being the adventurous family we are, we decided to throw ourselves into the festivities, starting with a visit to the nearby '40 Acre Farm' for their yearly celebrations. The Pumkin Experience was exactly that!

After picking up Darian's friend Emily we headed of with the Navman in charge. Not sure how we could possibly see so many things without our little techno friend. How did we ever survive without this? As it turns out, the farm is less than 10 minutes drive from where we are living.

Once in we bought the kids all glow-in-the-dark neckbands for the Haunted House experience (even thought it was broad daylight and only 11am). Darian and Emily went for a walk inside the Haunted House with Matt. Zane was a little reluctant and decided to stay with me instead. Next, the 3 kids lined up for a ride on tractor with attached carriages. This looked like loads of fun. They all smiled as the tractor took them for a ride around what is (during the summer) normally the 'Corn Maze' (Emily says it took her nearly 2 hours to find the middle of it last time she came here)....must remember to come back again in summer for the maze and Strawberry Picking....mmmm. They all laughed as they were jolted up and down as the tractor drove over the muddy tracks. It was really nice to see them having so much fun and acting like the kids that they often forget they still are. Darian and Emily had fun climbing on the play area for a while afterwards. There was a massive stack of tyres as part of the climbing area. Darian conquered it easily as he hoisted himself up from underneath, using only a rope to reach the top of this 2 metre climb...well done buddy!

Next it was off to the fields to find those perfect pumpkins to make our own little Halloween Carvings. We boarded onto a massive wagon attached to a tractor and were taken for a bumpy (but fun) ride around the fields until we got to the pumkin patch....WOW! Never did we imagine there would be so many pumpkins to choose from. The pumpkins (their vines all withered away by nature) were laying there, just waiting to be chosen and taken home. It was a good thing that the boys wore their Wellies....very muddy ground. Matt and I don't have Wellies yet, so we wore our hiking boots... just as good....but not nearly as cool as the huge array of Wellies available here. It took us quite some time to choose the perfect pumpkins. Darian went for a massive round looking one, Zane chose a tall one and Emily went for a round one too.

Now it was time to board the tractor again and head off to carve the perfect face...very interesting. After one of the farm hands so graciously used a saw to remove our pumpkin tops (ouch) we scooped and cut and scooped and cut to get the innards out....very messy work indeed. Then it was finally time to carve. Darian and Emily worked independantly (with the occasional bit of help from Matt & I) while Zane enjoyed having Matt help him a little with his (only a very little though). The pumpkins were so easy to cut.... a much softer skinned variety than we are accustomed to. Finally, they were done.

Now it was time for Zane to master the Haunted House. He was very pleased with himself when he came out after conquering his fear... go baby! Everyone happy! Now it was time for a treat of McDonalds for lunch before heading home again.

A fab day!