Pumpkin Patch at Lattin's Farm

Our search party!  

We were in search of the perfect pumpkin ... which we didn't really find since it was too close to closing, too late in the season, and everything was picked over and rotten.  But we definitely had fun looking and getting dirty.

Heppy or Merry Halloween

Germany as a country does not celebrate Halloween, but the American's sure do and the Germans join us in our celebrations most of the time.  You can always tell if they are German with the way they say Heppy Halloween or Merry Halloween - it is so cute to see all these little German kids all dressed up trying to speak English to get a little candy.

Paige - my little witch flying on her broom-stick 

(she has been practicing ever since she learned at the Harry Potter castle)  

My little batgirl with an attitude!!  You go Anika!!

My beautiful Emi who is growing up way to fast in my opinion!

Another toddler in our one size fits all Elephant costume!  I adore babies in Halloween costumes!

Star Wars!!  Gotta love any costume you can use the FORCE or bring a LightSaber along!

This year Halloween was crazy again.

 Last year I had a brand new baby - the house barely got decorated, I could hardly hold up the candy bowl to pass out candy and I hated opening the door over and over because I was worried my little newborn was going to get too cold.

This year the kids' Fall break just happened to fall on the week of Halloween.  Sorry kids ... we are going to France instead of staying home to Trick or Treat.  The kids were excited about Disneyland Paris but devastated to be missing Trick or Treating.  So ... I emailed a few friends, asked if we could Trick or Treat early and went around to their houses the Thursday before Halloween.  The kids were so excited!!  And they only got a handful of candy, which worked out perfect because snuck up to her room, hide there for an hour and ate ALL her candy the next day - the little stinker!  Thank You friends for making Halloween possible for my kid's!!!

An American Pumpkin Patch in Germany

I took the kids to get a pumpkin at a true American pumpkin patch!  The kids had a blast picking out their very own pumpkin.  They even got one for Kenneth; a perfect little one just his size.

Anika loved the stem on this one, perfect to hold!

Emi struggled to find the perfect one and in the end it was perfect - it looks just like a muffin or a cupcake, it is seriously cute!  Evan got the biggest one ever and was the proudest little boy ever!

I can never pass up a photo opt like this!  I love how Evan is holding so very tightly to Kenneth's hand!

Look, I actually made it in the picture!!

Pumpkin Festival Take Two

I decided to be brave and take the kids to the Pumpkin Festival in Ludwigsburg on my own.  The whole 2.5 hour drive out there it was pouring rain ... I mean, a serious downpour.  I kept repeating in my head, "what was I thinking?  what are we going to do?".  When we reached Ludwigsburg and drove into the parking lot the sun was shining and there were blue sky's!  I couldn't believe it!

My little man enjoying his sweet ride in the stroller

This years theme was Swiss (Switzerland).  Everything was centered around things that happen or these that are famous in Switzerland.  It was a nice little lesson for the kids.

Above are Evan and Paige in front of some oxen with the farmer in the background - can you just picture it happening in the Swiss Alps?

Anika's turn

I loved the flowers.  Where we are there are no more flowers, but the colors on the trees are gorgeous!  It was nice to see some flowers again.

The kids in Heidi's cottage.  I'm so glad that a couple of weeks ago we were able to watch Heidi so they actually knew who this was when they saw it.  They were so excited!

Practicing one of life's important skills

If you ever go to Ludwigsburg Palace don't forget to take a stroll thru the fairytale land.  Last year we had no idea this was here.  We saw Rapunzels tower from the gardens by accident and walked up to it to show Anika but we had no idea there was so much more.  It is HUGE!  And so much fun for the kids!  I mean, how fun is it that they get to experience being a Frog Princess on a chair that raises up and down with a water fountain and Lilly pads?

The kids got to ride this little boat thru more fairytales, such as Pinocchio being swallowed by a whale 

An old witch sticking her head out the window taunting us to come inside like she did with Hansel & Gretel

Here the kids were 'trying' their luck.  I was laughing so hard at them.  They had to time it just right in order to jump the stones and get across to the other side of the pond without getting sprayed by water from between the stone steps.  Evan was the one who got the luck!  The kids were being so silly!  The best part was that there was no rhythm to when the water would or would not spray and we tried forever to figure it out.  When they thought they had it the water would spray them!

This little donkey would spit out golden coins (filled with chocolate) if you put in 20 euro cents.  As we were walking by some lady was trying to catch her coin as the donkey spit it out at her.  She got two so gave one of my kids one.  I told her no thank you because I knew it would create a fight.  We then spent the next 15 minutes trying to get everyone a chocolate coin.  It was actually funny to watch Paige trying to catch them.