Pumpkins, Parents and Princesses: Part III

Hey everyone,

Today was a pretty Halloween-ish day, for sure.  The girls got to spend the morning playing around Dad and Cindy's resort before Kris and I swung by to pick everyone up for a series of pumpkin-centric family activities.  After everything was carved and cleaned up, we loaded up into our trusty Tactical Family Transport Vehicle and topped off the evening with a steak dinner at Longhorn.

Enjoy:

Some of Alayna's iPad artwork. . . depicting her and what would appear to be a dancing skeleton wearing a tophat.  I imagine he grants wishes.

Dad takes the girls to feed the ducks at one of the resort ponds. . .

The Sheraton Vistana Villages

Dad and Cindy's building

One of the pools that the kids didn't get a chance to swim in due to the cold weather (we used this one a lot back in May, last time Dad and Cindy were down here. . .)

Another pool the kids didn't get the chance to take advantage of. . .

The girls get ready to feed the ducks. . .

At one of the resort playgrounds. . .

Morning snack break, prior to our arrival back at the hotel. . .

Coloring

Kris and I eventually picked up the rest of the crew and we drove over to Kris' church - Peace United Methodist in Hunters Creek - in order to pick up pumpkins.  Last year, these things were dirt cheap, and so we decided to skip over Celebration all together. . .

. . . you can imagine our horror, then, when we realized that a pumpkin that should've cost  $6 was $25, and pumpkins that should've cost $12 were $55!

Long story short, we wished them luck selling pumpkins at a 500% mark-up - those idiots are going to love disposing of a whole field of rotting pumpkins.

Not wanting to let our trip be a total waste, we let the kids play around in the pumpkin patch so we could take a bunch of pictures. . . while the annoyed pumpkin vendors looked on.

This thing probably cost $20.   Seriously.

The Cannonball points out a rotted pumpkin that was melting into the ground.

Thousands of dollars of pumpkins, courtesy of Jesus.

Abby bum-rushes a ghost.

Who knows. . .

We had passed another church with a pumpkin patch on our way down Central Florida Parkway over to Kris' church, so  we decided to double-back and check that place out.

The other church's pumpkin patch.

These pumpkins were also somewhat on the expensive side, but the smaller ones were definitely more reasonable. Since the volunteers working this 'patch seemed not-so-douchebaggish, we decided to pick up a few smaller pumpkins and then pick up the bigger ones at good ol' Publix.  Like gangsters.

Gross.

This thing was pretty popular. . .

Attempting to take pictures of the kids. . . always a grand ol' time.

The girls with Papa and Nana

The Houghs, ca. 2013

Post-Abby wipeout.  One of the volunteers was nice enough to share some chocolate with her  to help calm her down.

Yeah. . . THAT will happen.

Checking out.

Stickers!  I see this generic sticker set every damn year.

Leaving Publix, armed to the teeth with reasonably-priced pumpkins.

On the way back to the house, ready to carve the shit out of some pumpkins. . .

Back at the house, waiting for lunch before jumping headlong into pumpkin guts.

She-Ra and the Secret of the Sword, featuring HE-MAN?!  Hell yes, my kids watch this.

Enthralled.

Festive.

Commence gutting. . .

Alayna wanted to draw her own face this year.

Abby. . .  yeah.  Not so much a face, per se.

Ol' Reliable.

Nana gets creative. . .

I always make mine up as I go along.  Plans are for suckers.

We gave our five-year-old her very first carving knife this year. . . 'cause we're those kind of parents.

One of many pumpkin-induced mini-tantrums.

Ranger IPA and Ol' Snotty

Who knows. . .

When all else fails, throw a bunch of cheap-ass stickers on the vegetable and call it a day.

The girls opted to paint the remaining gourds/mini-pumpkins (whatever the hell you call those things.)  Hell, I don't even know if those things are carvable.

This year's pumpkins.

For dinner, we decided to go to LongHorn Steakhouse on International Drive.  As you'll recall, we went there five months earlier, last time my parents were down here, but our orders were messed up.  Thanks to my Dad's nigh-superhuman ability to skewer establishments for shoddy service, the restaurant had sent him over $90 in coupons/vouchers for his 'terrible dinner.'  Needless to say, our six-person meal this time around was dirt-cheap.  Like, $4 dirt cheap.  Can't beat that.

Lit up and ready for rotting.

- Brian