First Annual Pumpkin Carving

Living on the West coast is an absolute blessing. When all of you East coast people are shutting up your doors and windows and getting ready for the assaults of winter that are quickly approaching, I will most likely be soaking up some rays by the pool... I know you are totally hating me right now but I have a point, just wait for it. After that little visual, I'm sure it's hard to believe Gary and I really do actually miss when the weather starts to cool, the leaves begin to make their transition into beautiful bursts of color all over the mountain side and pumpkin pie and apple cider become staples in the home. So last week we decided to do something about our craving for fall and headed up the mountain to the sleepy little town of Julian. 

We unfortunately made our journey a week or two too early because we saw nothing but lush green trees all around. But we were not disappointed once we got there and filled our tummies with some amazing caramel apple pie! Yum! Our next stop was at the town mill where we sampled a few kinds of apple cider. Of course we couldn't leave without some to take home.

On our drive back to sunny San Diego we came upon a pumpkin patch. Gary informed me that he had never carved a pumpkin for Halloween so I thought it might be fun for us to go pick our own pumpkin and carve a creation of our own this year. So we stopped and found a nice plump pumpkin and a cute little one too.  Take a look at our masterpiece...

Here is our plump pumpkin. Bagger's not so sure what this big orange thing is doing on his porch.

I let Gary do the honors and make the first incision. I didn't really want to be the one to stick my hands inside that thing and pull out all the guts anyway!

Ewwww look what was in that pumpkin!!! 

...Just kidding...

Here's our little guy. Just wait to see what we do with him!

The artist at work sketching out our masterpiece.

Poor little Bagger had to watch from inside because he would not stop trying to eat Mr. Pumpkin.

I did the carving of the eyes and mouth to bring this creepy thing to life.

Then Gary got to work on the details. 

I did some dental work on him and the final touches. 

And now I am proud to show you our very first Jack-O-Lantern!

The cannibal pumpkin!!!!

I think this might be a hard one to out-do next year.