Pumpkin Festival 2012...

There's this LITTLE thing in our town called the Pumpkin Festival and it is something that I can hardly describe to you.  

Crazy.

Yep, that about sums it up.

To my Ohio friends and family, remember that thing we called the Lodi Sweet Corn Festival.  Well, let me tell you it doesn't hold a candle to this puppy.  And that Bates Festival we tried to pull off in Seville a time or two, please.  Child's play.  This Pumpkin Festival is the REAL DEAL in the world of festivals.

It's really a fun time and the kids think it ROCKS.

Here's a few photos.  Honestly I forgot to take many.  My pumpkin bad.

Notice the thumbs up the dude is giving

Before the Pumpkin Festival even started the third graders at our school had to produce a pumpkin float replica to be displayed during the festival.  They were judged as a grade and won FIRST PLACE which equals winning cash that the grade will use for a pizza party.  

The theme of this year's festival was Peace, Love and Pumpkins.  

Here's our groovy float...

Then there is the LARGEST parade that I have ever seen that takes place on the Saturday of the festival.  This year the girl's dance studio entered a float for the first time.  It won 3rd place!

 Mr. Shook ran an impressive 10k on Saturday morning before the parade.  Almost 900 people ran the 10k and Mr. Shook finished #225.  Great job, honey!

The pumpkin festival is something that you just have to experience once.  Come and check it out, stay for a visit and let us show you what this town can do.  

It's amazing!!

We're over our pumpkin hangover...finally...

What an exciting and exhausting 4 days we had with Pumpkin Festival here in town. I might have to break my days in to several posts so I can share all the great photos. Unfortunately, our girl was not Miss Pumpkin Princess but Molly still had a great time with the whole experience. Molly's confidence is so remarkable to me. She isn't afraid of going up on stage in front of a large group of people. I thought I might need to put my head between my knees for her but she did awesome. The biggest treat was that she got her picture on the front page of the Peoria Journal Star the morning after the pageant. It was very exciting and caused quite a cool buzz.

Here is our pumpkin princess...









And then here's our pumpkin princess doing what she really wanted to do...






We love the rides!! (Their Mom, not so much!)

What have you been up to?...

What have you been up to lately? Here's what we've been doing...







Mr. Shook has run a few races, one in Manito, IL and one in Delavan, IL and the kids did a fun run in Delavan. And, Mr. Shook ran his third half marathon this past Sunday in Peoria and finished in under 2 hours, which was his goal. Yea!



We did our annual corn maze here in town and the kids had a blast doing it. I highly recommend it if you want some fun on a beautiful day...




And we figured out all the clues...can you??

Molly is doing a kindergarten aged soccer clinic which she is really enjoying...





Tonight is the beginning of PUMPKIN FESTIVAL!!! Can you feel the excitement?? Molly is performing in the Miss Pumpkin Princess Pageant tonight so that should be cute and fun. Pictures to follow...