Family Pumpkin Party

For the first time ever, we got to go to the family Halloween party at the Clark’s place. We were all pretty tired from working the opening shift at the rest stop, but it was totally worth it!

There was all kinds of yummy treats…

Tanna made really yummy pumpkin cake pops!

Tractor rides down to the creek for s’mores…

Campfires…

Checking out Grandpa’s new root cellar…

Carving pumpkins…

Somehow we only got pictures of Theresa’s airstream pumpkin! But it was adorable!!!

Fall colors…

Thanks for the fantastic day with family and friends! We are truly blessed!!!

Family Flashback- Rock Church Harvest Party 2001

I am busily trying to get ready for our church Harvest Party tomorrow night and thought about all the time and effort that went into the Harvest Parties we did while we were with Youth Ministries in Chandler. In fact, we were so busy that I only have a couple of pictures… : o(

But what great memories we have!

That year we had the kids paint pumpkins and I had them all delivered to our house to get hosed off and clean before the party. There were a whole lot of pumpkins!

Oh, I miss shorts and t-shirt weather in October (and November and December…)

Family Flashback Pumpkin Patch

Here is a Leingang family flashback from the year 1997. The first shots are of Zack’s preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch and the rest are from our family trip to Fir Point Farms.  Zack was 4, Andy 2, and poor William was only 9 months old and didn’t get to go to the pumpkin patch at all… (sorry Will!)

Fir Point Farms was so much fun that we made it a tradition!

This was probably the one and only time they ever stood behind the “girl one” for a picture. ;o)

Zack takes a visit to the corn village

pony rides

Feeding the goats that live in the trees. They are like the Swiss Goat-Family Robinson. LOL

Our favorite part was the Nut House! (maybe because it reminded us of home… Just kidding!) It was like an old-fashioned ball pit. I always wanted to have one at our house but where does one get that many nuts???

Maybe some year we’ll go back for old times sake…

Cider Press

We realized that this year was the fifth year the boys have gone to press cider with the Cummings. This year I decided to tag along. It was fun to see the process! Usually we just see the results strewn all over the kitchen floor when we go to pick them up.

The past couple of years have not been good for local apples, so they ordered another bin of apples this year and had it delivered from Yakima. Six hundred pounds is a whole lot of apples!!!

Will obviously took the first picture! Unfortunately he got caught up in the fun and quit after this one.

It was just fun to be part of a bigger community getting together and having fun. Kind of like a quilting bee or a barn raising… In all we pressed (and drank) about 60 gallons of cider!!! We had to quit because we ran out of containers!

Even the rain didn’t deter these guys!

Some of those apples were really BIG!

First the apples get chopped and then they get pressed.

Then we strain the cider through cheese cloth into our containers.

A couple of neighbors had some apples to share, so the kids went over to glean some more for us to press…

Sometimes just climbing the tree works better than ladders

We also picked some grapes from the grape vines and threw them in, too. Apple & white grape cider is mighty tasty!

When it was all said and done we had a whole lot of cider! And it didn’t take long at all with all that good help…

Everyone worked hard but they still found time to play… especially when it came time for clean-up! ;o)

the leftovers don’t look so appetizing

Pressing cider is much easier when you can use a hose for clean-up. Too bad we couldn’t have used it on her poor kitchen floor!

The best part of cider pressing… having a fridge full of cider! We brought home 10 gallons!!!

Thankfully the shelves held up until we could get it all canned! Whew!

Thanks again, Cummings family! It wouldn’t seem like fall without cider…