The Great Pumpkin Massacre of 2010

This summer I bought some twenty-five cent clearance plants at Menards.

The were marked as being Doral Melons and I had never grown those, so I 

figured what the hell and decided to give them a try.

It turned out that they were not melons at all --- they were pumpkins.

Atlantic Giant Pumpkins.

The grasshoppers ate all but one,

but one was all that we needed.

We grew an 80 pound monster .
Okay, okay, so maybe 80 pounds doesn't constitute a monster
when one considers that the record is 1,785 pounds, but when
you thought you were growing a melon --  trust me, it's a monster!

I decided to give it to the nieces and nephews
and I was lucky enough to get to help carve it.


Okay, truth be told, I just wanted to get some seeds for next summer
and I didn't trust Dani not to roast all of them.




We drove up early Halloween morning.


It was a family affair, so we all bundled up and headed out.

Is he not just the cutest little bugger?!

I cut the back out and we scooped out the guts.

Dani made the first cut and cut the first eye while Krista
patiently waited her turn.

Of course, shorts probably weren't the best choice
because it was C-O-L-D!

Dani chose the nose, and then Krista went Harry Potter on the mouth.
(Did you know it's only 12 days until the next movie comes out?)

Tucker wasn't too sure about the final result ....

.... but I thought it turned out quite good.

We went inside to do the little ones
because it was so cold.

Of course, I opted to hog the nephew instead of playing in pumpkin goop.

I'm telling ya .... he's the cutest.

Just ask Jack.