Fall Festival 2008

For the last 5 years we have gone to Yankee Springs State Park for their annual Fall Festival Weekend. It is more often than not that we pack gloves, hats, winter coats, boots, and bring an insane amount of wood. Generally the fire is going all day long just to keep warm. This year however, we were pleasantly suprised to wear summer-like attire. We may never experience a weekend like that again.


We get together with our great friends the Robach's, Koster's and Ryktarsyk's. Friday night is usually a "see who sets-up last" event followed by a late campfire. Saturday is chock-full of activity. The kids get to paint pumkins, make crafts, play games, get tattoos, and go fishing. It is one of the best places to be a kid. The adults make time go by with meaningless conversation and watching football/baseball/racing - whatever is on that day. We also do our annual "Turkey-in-a-Can" dinner. We start the turkey at about 3ish, let it cook for 2 hours and then we enjoy a closely matched Thanksgiving Dinner. We are always amazed at how good it tastes! Following dinner, the kids get their costumes on and we "trick or treat" around the entire park. It is quite a sight to see!


A big highlight this year was that our friend Tim got to celebrate his 40th birthday. It was a bit premature, a couple weeks early, but we thought it would be most fitting to help him ease into being 40 with a personalized tombstone. We had more fun keeping it a secret and placing it on our campsite without him knowing. Thanks, Tim, for letting us have this time to celebrate!


We end our weekend with a Sunday brunch which never fails to leave us all overly fed. These times are priceless and the friendships that have formed over the years have been such a blessing. The kids look forward to it each year but I think the adults enjoy it just as much, if not more.


Here's a few pictures from the trip this year!