October 19, 2010

• Pumpkin Quest 2010

  It's that time of year again.  It's hard to believe we're already half way through October and moving into November, the leaves are changing and wearing a sweatshirt of jacket is almost essential right now.  And all of that means it's time for the annual Linder family Pumpkin Quest.   So, Saturday afternoon we headed for the mountains for an overnight at at hotel and then off to enjoy our day eating and finding our pumpkins Sunday.  Saturday was cold, windy and rainy, especially as we headed north.  This was a huge blessing though because we saw the biggest and possibly the closest rainbow ever. It literally went right over the highway and we drove under it. I've never seen anything like it before; you could basically see where each end touched the ground.

     

  The only thing that could have made the drive nicer was if the leaves were still looking good.  Unfortunately we missed peak this year and most of the trees were brown or leafless by the time we got north.  Not much color on the mountains.
  

  Our first stop Saturday was St. Rose of Lima parish for Mass where we were pleasantly surprised to see a priest we know through Cursillo.  He is now assigned up north and we were happy to be able to see him and chat for awhile after Mass.  We then headed back to the hotel to change before getting dinner at a local diner.  Game time was then in order before heading off to bed with anticipation of good food and pumpkins the next morning.

  Our day began as all Pumpkin Quests do with breakfast at Polly's Pancakes in Sugar Hill.  Everyone had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and hot chocolate (for the kids) and of course and omelet for me since I don't like pancakes.

  

  After eating it was time for our annual picture on Trot Trot the horse outside
  

  Augustin, being Augustin, decided that standing on the horse was a wonderful idea.
   

  Waiting to get back into the van and head to our next stop
  

  A view of Mt Lafayette with snow on the peak
  

  Next stop...Harman's Cheese Shop where the boys each got to pick out a small item.  Augustin of course picked out yet ANOTHER purple moose, named "Matt the Moose".  It is now a tradition I guess since we've now got 4 of the same moose and he loves them all.  He won't even consider picking out something else.  Grant got his traditional 6 pack of locally made pop in various flavors.

  

  Then it was time to head to Bath, NH to the oldest general store in the country where the kids each get to pick out 10 pieces of candy and spend time sitting on the porch of the store.
  

  Then it's time to cross over the covered bridge
  

  This is also the time that the youngest typically falls asleep for the only nap of the day and I almost always end up spending some time sitting in the van while said baby sleeps.  True to form, Samuel fell asleep.  I wasn't upset, it gave me time to sit and do nothing knowing that the rest of the day was going to be busy.  So Brad brought me a big cup of hot apple cider and I spent the time listening to a Glenn Miller cd definitely warm and enjoyable.  And as a bonus, Samuel slept for just over a hour which was much needed.

  Finally, it was time to get pumpkins; the anticipated event of the day and the photo-op I look forward to more than any other. I love getting pictures of the boys sitting with the pumpkins.  This years was slightly interesting because they had chickens walking around the pumpkins this year and even though we have chickens of our own, Samuel was determined that the chickens were more important than a picture.  So the first attempt was really more of Grant pinning him down, while he screamed and everyone else tried to look happy.  After  few attempts I gave up and let all the kids just go look at the animals, hoping beyond hope that we could capture some good pictures later on.  Thankfully after looking at the cows, chickens and other various farm animals the kids were all more willing to look at pumpkins.

  Samuel headed right over to the group of pumpkins and I had the other boys fill in around him rather than try to move him some where else.  They all did well and I got some really cute pictures
  

  After the group picture it was time to pick out pumpkins; always a fun time for all.  And of course a great opportunity for me to take pictures.

  Brad helping the boys find good pumpkins
  

       

   

   
   

  Samuel and Uncle Scot
  

  And of course Baby Girl on her first pumpkin quest
   
  The rest of the day is always without pictures for some reason.  We did head down to Hanover, NH and then over into Vermont to eat sticky buns and King Arthur Flour and then go to the book store near Dartmouth College before making our way over to Lui Lui's for dinner and then finally heading home.  It was a wonderful day for all of us. Great weather, lots of great food and fun.

  • 10:07 am
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