Pumpkin Carving

Happy Halloween!  It's time to carve the pumpkins again.  It went surprisingly well for Lex considering she doesn't like to get dirty...

Kieran dove right into the pumpkin, getting rid of the 'guts'....

Luke had to show a little flair....

 Here are the final products (we still have one to go)...Luke wanted a scary one...

Kieran wanted one that would represent the Central Raider football team (they play in the section final Halloween night for a trip to state)...

The last one represents Sarah's Ironman triathlon this summer in Couer d'Alene, Idaho...

Altogether...

Reconciliation Park

Sarah, Pam and I ran the Mankato 1/2 Marathon on October 19.  After we crossed the finish line, we had to walk past Reconciliation Park to get to our buses.  I've driven past the park for years, but had never walked through it.

Reconciliation Park is the site of the largest mass execution in the history of the United States.  38 Dakota Indians were hung there as a result of the U.S./Dakota Conflict in 1862.

The park now has a large, limestone buffalo, a tepee and a large, scribe with the names of those hung.  It was all dedicated in 1997, it was interesting to see how quickly the white limestone has been weathering over the last 17 years or so.

The Pumpkin Patch

Stopped by the local Pumpkin Patch this morning to see what we could find.  Answer....a lot a pumpkins...$5.00 per pumpkin, you pick your own.  So off we went...

Wasn't too long before people were off on their search...

Sarah found one early on...

Then Luke found one too...

Kieran was just to busy talking....

Maddy felt like she should dress in costume...and in bare feet...to go to the pumpkin patch.  (Actually, this was the morning after the homecoming dance...costume?).

Lex found one...it had to be a little one, because she's little...

You need superheroes if you're afraid of the Great Pumpkin!

This is the haul from the pumpkin patch!

They are now sitting by the front door waiting to be carved in a few weeks...