1. No presents, just candy.
2. It celebrates the dead.
3. You can be as absolutely ridiculous as you want.
My favorite part of Halloween and the Fall season is the pumpkin patch. This year, I went twice. The first visit was with a few friends from grad school. Some of these foreigners (that term now includes northerners too) had no clue what a pumpkin was much less a whole patch of them. Duff went a long too. He is just too damn cute.
The pumpkin patch in Lochapoaka is actually owned by the Foshee Family who I have been friends with since high school. That fact alone would keep me coming back every Fall but there is one more reason that I cannot skip The Farmer in the Dell....
The Pumpkin Launcher:
It is truly an Alabama jewel. Where else could you find a homemade (very questionably safe) pumpkin launcher that requires a 50 gallon drum full of concrete to counter weight the launching of green pumpkins? I am not even sure if Mississippi could get this "poh-dunt". Naturally, we stood far away and made Eric pull the string. Notice even the pumpkin launcher expert machinists are standing far away....
Going to the pumpkin patch with some of the cohort (what our program calls us group of grad students) folks turned out to be a lot of fun. We had a chili cook-off later that night paired with a backyard fire, good booze, and even better music.
I celebrated my 24th birthday in Tuscaloosa with Cass this year at The Avett Brothers concert. Cass says my music is weird so thankfully Lindsey, Tyler, Doug and Sara came along. It was an awesome concert and thankfully, after running, cutting in line, getting cussed at and telling some poor soul I didn't care... I scored a show poster to commemorate my birthday; check the date on that baby:
The next pumpkin patch visit happened on my birthday celebration with the family. I wanted to take Gade Clay to the pumpkin patch and then have dinner at the farm with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Gary. The Anniston pumpkin patch did not know what they were in store for....
Austin being the best big brother ever:
She is nuts to say the least...
Carrying Gade Clay up the pillow-like stairs of a blow up slide with socks on is an achievement worth documenting:
Gade Clay LOVED all the bouncy attractions..
However, Alana and Clay loved them more... Thankfully they let Gade Clay play too.
Sweet PeePaw (he hates that grandfather name, so naturally, we love it) took Gade Clay for a ride:
They are clowns.
It is safe to say that Gade Clay got her attitude from Alana, her stinginess from me, and her ability to pout in every photo from Clay. But boy is she not the cutest thing you have ever seen?
We wreaked havoc on that poor place; definitely got our money's worth. We ended the birthday festivities with dinner at the farm and of course, my sweet Aunt Kathy made my favorite, chicken spaghetti. It was the best birthday I have ever had. Super low key and full of just fun family time. Dad, Alana, Clay and I are really getting this whole family time down pat.
The next weekend, I traveled to Nashville for the Auburn-Vandy game. No need to rehash that mess. Yes, Meghan and I were on TV and yes, I was pissed. It turned out to be an awesome weekend. I ran in to one of Jordan's best friends from college, Kaylee, at The Tavern:
Meghan did get two pictures of me smiling but what's the fun in taking a normal picture?
We had a really fun weekend despite the terrible game witnessed. The BEST part of the weekend was, of course, brunch on Sunday morning at Fido. Everyone, meet the new love of my life, The Hangover:
Ladies and Gents, that is a boat load of plain cream cheese and a thick sausage patty sandwiched in between a toasted onion bagel. It is the perfect sandwich. I suggest everyone try it at least once.
Yeah, I think this one is long enough. Stay tuned for more updates!
