Schreiber Girls: Pumpkinville Or Bust

Madeleine in blue and Emily in pink at Pumpkinville.

Last Thursday brought our aforementioned trip to "Pumpkinville", a small local farm, that makes its best attempts to put up a corn maze and lets you wander through their pumpkin patch. I had been previously warned their prices were high, and seeing as we already had our big pumpkins...we went with the understanding each girl could get one little pumpkin (the size that are used for centerpieces, etc). We came home with each girl having acquired three little pumpkins and two gourds, I'm a sucker, for a manageable grand total of $8. The girls had a great time and thought it was better than anything Linus could desire, The Great Pumpkin of course excluded. They were also thrilled to see the homemade cutouts of Sesame Street characters at Pumpkinville (it truly had a bit of everything).

Emily, Bert, and Madeleine

Madeleine with her "favorite" two gourds and a pumpkin

Emily, looking very distressed, trying to handle two gourds and a pumpkin. I suggested each of them take their favorite ONE pumpkin for the picture - what do I know?

Emily unpacking her pumpkins at home, the child owns shoes - she just removes them in the car.

Madeleine with two of her pumpkins right before we put them on the mantel. This lasted long enough for her to realize she couldn't reach them...then they were moved to the ledge between the kitchen and family room.

In other news....we are now eating dinner together as a family. We hadn't done so previously because the girls go to bed so early, it was easier to eat after they were down. It isn't the nicest dining experience for the adults, but the girls think it is just the neatest thing and are learning to set the table (they get everything at the appropriate person's spot - not necessarily in the right order, but they are two!) and are personally offended if I should do it in the hopes of eating before Christmas.

Last Wednesday we went to the "cafe" at the local Barnes and Noble (Williamsburg is slow to wake up and this is one of the few places open before 10) for a muffin. In the bookstore's development there is a large fountain, with surrounding courtyard, in front of a movie theater. We often watch the fountain, however it wasn't running on Wednesday. We ate our muffin and then went on a walk (wearing them out for their nap). When we were heading back to the car we went by the fountain again....Emily was running full-steam-ahead in front of me and Madeleine was behind me. Just as Emily was about 15 feet from the fountain - it turned on. I think she has a shot at making the Olympics in the high jump! The poor little thing jumped straight up, all four limbs outstretched, and hit the ground running back to me. Both girls were upset and my maternal instincts took over as demonstrated by my valiant effort to quell my laughter. Emily's eyes recently returned to their normal size. We had a lengthy conversation about the fountain "waking up", but haven't returned since.

This same visit to "New Town", as the movie/bookstore complex is known, prompted another discussion, this one about language. They are building condos and as we watched some of the construction there was a loud crash followed by "Mother f*****" from inside the building (serves me right for hanging around construction zones). We had a chat about how only big men who wear hats and build houses can use those words; they are not words for us (unless Mommy is driving).

Saturday we went to Busch Gardens (which we do pretty much every Saturday - there will be a crisis when it closes for the end of the season this month) and went on some new rides. I was personally disappointed that the balloon ride was "kids only" as it is about my speed. A video of it can be seen here - Madeleine is in the shirt with purple stripes and Emily is in pink stripes (Emily got to face forward as the balloon moved). We also went to "Ireland", we hadn't been in a while, and discovered it had the most pumpkins of any country - very popular!

Emily getting ready to go on the elephant "roller coaster" with Daddy. She loves it and her face lights up the whole time (unfortunately not captured in this picture).