Pumpkins, Aye!

This past weekend turned out all about pumpkins.  To start off the weekend, we participated in the first ever Great Pumpkin Race for the Town of New London.  The ad said to stick two axles and four wheels on a pumpkin, decorate it, and bring it to race on October 17th.  This was trickier than it seemed, as it turned out, since we quickly realized we'd sold almost every toy with removable wheels (tractors, loaders, dump trucks) at the yard sale we'd had last May.  The only thing we had with easily removable wheels was some new rollerblades, so that's what we ended up using.  Two dowels and some screws later, we had a pumpkin on four wheels.  Did it travel in a straight line?  Not even close.  Oh well.  As it turned out, neither did anyone else's pumpkin, save for one (the winner, clearly) created by the daughter of New London's Recreation Director.  The race turned out to be on our street, which makes sense, since if you've ever been to our house, you probably noticed how many skateboarders love to cruise down the long gentle grade at all hours of the day and night.  Anyway, it was convenient that the race took place right out our front door, and it was totally hilarious too.  Pumpkins were very creatively decorated, but not so well designed as racing vehicles!

Saturday was pumpkin filled too, as we traveled south to the Keene Pumpkin Festival.  We met an old college friend of mine, Rachel, and her family at the festival, since last year we'd both posted photos from the Pumkinfest only to find out later, on facebook, that we'd both been there.  This year, we coordinated.  Rachel's kids Nate and Emily are about a year older than Aiden and Haley, respectively, and by the end of the day all four kids were chasing each other around the sprawling pumpkin madness that is the Keene Pumpkin Festival like they'd known each other for years.  Rachel and I had a good time catching up on literally a decade of not seeing each other too.

Later that evening we attended the Anderson's annual Scottish Dinner.  They really outdid themselves this year with an unbelievably delicious feast including filet mignon with a whisky cream sauce, scottish eggs, and bread pudding with scotch caramel sauce.  We also tried the canned lamb haggis that I found online- surprisingly tasty!  It was a lovely celtic-inspired evening, enjoyed by adults and kids alike.