Yesterday my day overflowed with goodness. The sun came out, after more than a week of rainy days, the girls got up early and scrubbed the kitchen, and my camera couldn’t take a bad picture. The only bad part was picking only a handful to share. I hate picking favorites. I feel bad for the photo’s not chosen and sitting on my hard drive.

It’s been a long hard week at work. Post DSD (Digital Scrapbooking Day) is always a tough week. This time we also kicked off our quarterly LAD: Fall Barn Raising. This is incredibly fun! It’s an exciting, busy time. But between the two events, I’ve been all work and no play. Yesterday I changed that & unexpectedly took the afternoon off, bundled the girls into the van & drove to the Ludwigsburg Kürbisausstellung, also known as the Pumpkin Festival.

Tessa’s friend Alana (Senior Photo Shoot; Seoul Lantern Fest)  is spending her gap year at a Folk High School in Norway. Her parents are still stationed in South Korea, so she is spending her breaks with us. This week is her Fall break. The girls have been giggling, baking, cosplaying and staying up late. They happily got up “early” yesterday to go to the Pumpkin Festival with me. This is everyone’s favorite!

Nestled in the gardens of Schloß Ludwigsburg, the Pumpkin Festival has all things pumpkin. My favorite are all the pumpkin treats. I come for the pumpkin soup, but I try as many of them as I can. This year there were pumpkin churro’s! We love churro’s! Having lived in California for over 20 years, churro’s are something I’ve really, really missed. And pumpkin churro’s? Dipped in chocolate? Covered in crushed pumpkin seeds? I’m drooling just thinking about them. They are that good.

After our detour at the pumpkin churro stand, we made a beeline for the snack shack. By the time the girls were truly awake, cleaned my kitchen, and dressed, and made up, it was well after lunch and our tummies were grumbling. They shared a pumpkin käsespätzle (similar to mac-n-cheese), while I had my pumpkin soup with a pumpkin maultaschen (similar to a big ravioli). Of course this all went down with both pumpkin juice and pumpkin wine. The only thing missing was a pumpkin spice latte after. There was none to be found.

We walked off our too-big lunch, starting with the fairy tale gardens, and ending with the last of the pumpkin sculptures…. and pumpkin waffles. Because. Really. You can never have too much pumpkin.

The very first thing we see, and eat, pumpkin churro’s. YUM!

And pumpkin sparkling wine ❤

I love the phoenix!

But pikachu steals the show… he is all our favorite!

Lunch is pumpkin soup, pumpkin seed bread & a pumpkin maultaschen… Heaven!

We walked through the fairytale garden. Hansel & Gretel’s house is their favorite.

Gorgeous little covered bridge.

Perfect light. Alana.

Tessa

If you climb up, Rapuznel is trapped in the tower & lets down her hair.

T is for Tessa!

We had a gorgeous sunset on the drive home. Perfect end to a perfect afternoon.