Pumpkins and Duckins

This fall I did just that… I fell way behind on my blog. So now, with 13 days left until Christmas, I thought I'd catch up. Starting with Halloween.

Not Ducking Around
One of the highlights of the fall was the four-story tall rubber duck that nested on Pittsburgh's river for roughly 4 weeks. The promotion and advertising leading up to the event was huge. Stores all over downtown put rubber duck stickers in their windows and one even had small replica…

Well despite the ducks all over town, I still didn't think many people would come out for the duck's debut. My mom happened to be in town that weekend, and we decided to see the duck in. It was partnered with a nighttime pop-up market located on the Roberto Clemente bridge. I was so excited and very wrong about people not coming out. There were people EVERYWHERE!

The bridge was packed with people!

Not only were there a lot of people, but there were also a lot of famous guests too (of the Aves kind)!

Iceberg the mascot and James from the Aviary

After much anticipation, the duck finally made its way downstream. Due to the swarm of people, I wasn't able to get a great picture. We also didn't stay long enough to see it get closer, so this is the best I got…

Fall Family Fun
A few weeks later, John's mom and sister Emily came to visit (his sister Abby was getting back from her two-week trip to India, but that's another story). The day before Abby got home, we decided to visit Simmons Farm for some fall fest fun. We took a hayride, got lost in a corn maze, picked apples, pumpkins and corn, launched apples in a sling shot, and saw a pumpkin launcher!!! It was SO MUCH FUN!

My favorite picture--Mallicks forming a strategy in the corn maze.

After they got things figured out.

Family Shot!

John and I with our lucky pumpkins!

My first time apple picking!

Despite ALL of the family fun activities, John and Emily most enjoyed the farm animals. It was so funny to how excited they got around the goats, sheep and REALLY FAT PIG! John even bought some feed for the animals, and one of the sheep ate the dixie cup out of John's hand! Then the pig fell asleep and started pig snoring! Okay… the animals were pretty cool.

And with a few days to spare before Halloween, John and I finally carved our pumpkins. He attempted a pretty intricate design, and it turned out so well!

Proud of his pumpkin, proud of the Pirates

And my pumpkin…

Save the date!