Weekending it

Thanks for all the love, support, and encouragement on our last post. After this first weekend of life with this new routine, we're feeling a bit more confident and excited for this next chapter.

We had lots of fall fun this weekend. Hung out with many friends. Slept-in both days!! Did some baking and cooking and adventuring.

The highlight of this weekend was going on a fall adventure to Long Island to see The Rise of the Jack-o-Lanterns. The event takes place only at night at the Old Westbury Gardens (basically a really beautiful botanic garden). You walk through the grounds and view hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of carved pumpkins. A co-worker told me about this event and when I looked into it I really wanted to go but was immediately discouraged because it was basically impossible to get to via public transportation. Dan and I do not have a car, nor do we need one right now. But there are a select few things that would be so much easier with a car. This event was one of them. So I pitched the idea to friends with a car but figured it would be too tough with their three month old infant. Surprisingly, they were on board so I got tickets!! We were glad to spend time with friends, see a really neat event, and get lots of baby love at the same time.

We got pizza beforehand in the little town nearby and arrived at the Gardens for our ticketed time (it was very crowded). You guys, it was amazing. I took as many pictures as I could but they don't do justice. There was spooky music playing and very little light aside from the glow of the jack-o-lanterns which made for the best ambiance. And the artistry was amazing. See for yourself:

The ground was filled with basic jack-o-lanterns with colored lights illuminating in the inside. Then on either side of the pathway were pedestals with the massive pumpkins with intricate carvings or designs painted on the pumpkins. Horror movies and beloved kids movie characters (to keep things a little more kid friendly). Then there were sculptural elements with carved pumpkins stacked together to create animals, cars,  superheroes, a Chinese dragon, and dinosaurs. Midway through there was a giant tree strung with jack-o-lantern lights.

There were pumpkins of the candidates...

And last but not least - STAR WARS

Our friends took this picture of the four of us. Credit to Landshaw Photography