Pumpkin Carving...

It took two days, but we got them carved...

We started yesterday by pulling out the guts...

This is a job that I don't do much...and they love...

You cut a hole for them...give them a couple of tools...and they're happy for awhile...

 Today, it was time to carve.  The carving part is where I take my 'less than artistic ability' and try to do what they'd like...

Both say that's what they wanted...Lex wanted some sort of a eagle look from 'Power Rangers' and Lukie wanted a vampire.  If they say I got it right, I'll take it...

It's the first time in years where we didn't carve a #12 for Tom Brady and Kieran...we were rushed and had limited time, so too bad...

We had to get to New Prague for a Sub-Section Semi-Final Volleyball game that was a rematch of the game that knocked the Raiders out last year on Halloween...we were ready...

There were a lot of people there and the Raiders quickly dropped the first set...

But it didn't matter, they won the next three sets pretty easily to win 3-1...

Win two more matches and they're in state...we'll all be excited...

When we got back, it was time to light the pumpkins...

Lukie and Lex say they look good...but I saw better ones at the zoo...

Science Museum...

Over the weekend, we spent a day at the Science Museum...it's always a fun time...

Our first stop was at the Sportsology exhibit...we they practice lacrosse with levers...

Lukie had to race Adam Thielen of the Vikings...

He lost...

Lex wanted to race TC bear, but cheated by starting early and beyond the starting line (Lukie started at the right time)...

They both beat TC Bear (it's hard not too)...

Lex likes to listen to the story at the Diplodocus and Allosaurus exhibit...

Lukie loves his dinosaurs...

You can put your face on the giant astronaut again...

A new exhibit looks at biometrics...bite force, flying, movement, etc...

Of course, for Lukie was the replica of Sue, the largest and most complete T-Rex ever found, who currently resides in Chicago...there is a great story behind her discovery, collection, preparation and eventual sale, look for the documentary called Dinosaur 13...

A replica of her skull was cool...

It happened to be a day where you could make projects...they both made 'fliers,' though Lex is too busy flying hers to display it...

Here, they could experiment with different wing sizes...smaller wings were easier to make the chair rotate, but you had to flap more...longer wings took more to get the chair moving, but little effort to keep it moving...it was hard to take pictures...

Here's Lex making another project...she made more than Luke...

Then, there was a live Screech Owl, which was cool...

But the piece that we learned the most from?!?!

That was good information to know...

Of course Lukie and I took the usual picture...not overly good this time, but we take it every visit to the Science Museum...it'll be a sort of time lapse for us if we ever put them side-to-side...

Voting...2018...

I don't need to wait for November 6th to vote, so I figured I'd vote absentee for the first time...

It gave me a good chance to talk about civic duty to Lukie and Lex too...

Yeah, it was an interesting talk...

I just didn't get my 'I voted' sticker...

Excellence...

Lex received 'Excellence in Acceptance' for the month...

The elementary school recognizes students each month for character traits they'd like to see...nice work Lex.

Pumpkin Patch and the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular...

This past Monday was all about pumpkins...we started the night by visiting the pumpkin patch...we needed to get five (that we still need to carve)...

After spending a while at the patch, we finally got our five pumpkins and then headed to the MN Zoo for the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular...

Over 5,000 pumpkins carved and lit by LED lights...pumpkins were everywhere...Lex said immediately 'oh my gosh!'  She then continued to say that for 45 minutes on and off, to the point that Lukie started with 'Lexy!  Stop saying that!'

These first few were the introductions...

And then we got to the main event...pumpkinville...

These elaborate pumpkins take anywhere between 12-18 hours to carve, there are people on site carving pumpkins all day to replace those that are wearing out...

The trail takes you through time, starting with dinosaurs and ending up with today...Lukie liked the dinosaurs...

Ice Age Mammoths...

Into the 1700s (I skipped sometime and probably 1,000 pumpkins)...

Yeah, changing the world one pumpkin at a time...

Trust me, pumpkins were everywhere...

The end of an era...

Then we move to the 1900s, here's the Titanic sinking...

King Kong...

This is Buzz Aldrin, walking on the moon...

Darth Vadar facing off with Obi-Wan...

Harry Potter...

The Vikings...

We were at the zoo from about 6:45 until 8:30 that night, worth every minute...we all loved it...

I have lots of pictures of Lex hugging this wolf...it's the first under the lights though...

It was a great time at the zoo...so worth it...trust me when I say there are at least 4,980 other pumpkins that are worth seeing at the zoo...