Pumpkin Festival

It was a 4-day weekend for Charlie! On Saturday, the three of us we went on a long walk and explored some more of our town. We found the train station from our side of the tracks, and enjoyed the nice fall weather. We went to the commissary that afternoon, but our departure was delayed by the sudden need to bathe Connor after a dirty diaper disaster. Was that too much information..?

Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Fest – October 7

We had plans Sunday to meet two other couples and their kids at a Pumpkin Festival in Ludwigsburg, a little less than two hours away. The weather was looking miserable that morning, so we waited until it cleared up and decided to meet there around 2:00. The drive there wasn’t so great. There was a traffic jam on one of the autobahns, so the GPS gave us an alternate route. We missed a turn and ended up going through the town of Speyer, but we passed an absolutely beautiful cathedral, so that was worth the extra few minutes of driving. Buuuut we never quite got back on track. The GPS took us through several tiny towns to avoid the autobahn, and it ended up taking us close to three hours to get there. Luckily, Connor napped for the first part of the drive, and he was content when he woke up.

Once we finally arrived and found a place to park, we called Jes and found out where to go next. We had to pay to enter the castle grounds, then walk to the other side of the castle and down the hill to the fest. On the way down the hill, we passed lots of cool pumpkin sculptures!

And we passed an interesting statue…it didn’t look so creepy in person…

We met up with our friends in a kids area, then went on a boat ride. Connor and I went on the ride while Charlie stayed back. Connor made it through the boat ride, but after the long trip in the car, he was definitely ready to take a break and eat next. Then we joined the others at the playground. After the big kids wore themselves out, we went to the food area. There was a big tent where you could buy food, and there were lots of picnic tables outside. I had pumpkin quiche and pumpkin streudel, which were pretty good. Charlie had pumpkin soup, and it was served with some sort of pasta dumpling in the bowl. We couldn’t quite figure out exactly what it was, but it was delicious! We brought home a small bottle of pumpkin wine.

We took some more pictures at the pumpkin sculptures before walking back to the car. There were also some GIANT pumpkins in front of the castle:

On the way back to the car, we walked through a really old cemetery. There was an area with rows and rows of WWII soldiers.

Connor was asleep in the stroller when we got to the car. I got him into his seat while Charlie found the machine to pay, then we were ready to head home. That’s when the real fun began…Meltdown #1. I suppose I should be grateful that this was only #1 and Connor is almost 6 months old. He truly has always been an easy-going little guy, and any crying or fussing are easily and quickly remedied by nursing, a change of scenery, a nap…or if we’re in the car, the pacifier has been our fool-proof secret weapon when toys or singing aren’t enough. Poor little guy pretty much screamed and cried for two hours. I was doing my best to smile, sing, offer toys, and do anything possible to distract him, and it was so heart-breaking not to be able to console him. As Charlie put it, Connor and I were both a puddle of tears in the back seat. To make things worse, there was another traffic jam, so the GPS took us off the beaten path again. Right as Connor was really ramping up his fit was when we were off the autobahn in the middle of nowhere. Once we got to a town, we found a place to stop and I changed Connor’s diaper and fed him. He immediately calmed down once we stopped and I got him out of his seat, but geared up again once we got back on the road. I had thought that he might be having a lot of teething pain (his first little chomper popped through last week!), but since he calmed down when we stopped, I figured that wasn’t the main culprit. He finally fell asleep when we were twenty minutes from home. I can only assume his fit was a combination of teething and just not wanting to be in his carseat. It was the worst experience I’ve ever had – all I wanted to do was hold him and calm him down, but that obviously wasn’t possible. We cuddled up in bed as soon as we got home (a little after 9:00), and he settled right down to sleep. Phew. What a day…