A Georgia Girl in Germany

I love going to Schloss Ludwigsburg’s annual pumpkin festival, and this year was no exception. I enjoy seeing all the wonderful works of art made from pumpkins and gourds, but MacKenzie takes after her Nana and enjoys the year-round colors. She found a rose lying on the ground and decided it complemented her outfit, and wore it over her ear for a while. What a beauty!

Just like last year, there were quite a few pumpkin and gourd sculptures. Benjamin immediately gravitated to the frog sticking its tongue out and spitting a small stream of water from its mouth.

MacKenzie liked the mother kangaroo with a joey in her pocket. Love the tongues sticking out!

Zachary found a weird animal -- an abstract cow, perhaps -- also sticking out its tongue.

It was almost as if we had stumbled upon a miniature zoo, complete with an owl, a snake and (I’m guessing) a long-nosed mouse. Even the jack-o-lanterns were sticking out their tongues. I suppose that was part of the theme.

Benjamin liked the little mouse atop a large block of cheese. How ingenious to skin the pumpkin to turn it into a block of swiss cheese!

MacKenzie didn’t seem scared of these two snakes slithering just behind her.

There was even a pumpkin rainbow on display. It made a beautiful orange background for one of my favorite photos taken that day. It’s also pretty amazing that all three kiddos cooperated for the photo: everyone looking at the camera, smiling appropriately, no goofy faces or bunny ears. I guess it helps when I tell them ahead of time that we were there for my annual pumpkin photos and that if they cooperate we could spend time in the adjacent fairy tale gardens. It worked!

What a sweet boy with the field of pumpkins behind him!





This is the one photo for which they didn’t cooperate as well -- they all wanted to stand in front of the largest pumpkin, without each other nearby. They reluctantly cooperated and all stood together.

There was also an area for the kids to jump and play in the hay. Benjamin was quite a good jumper. We ended up picking hay out of their clothes (and MacKenzie’s hair!) for the rest of the afternoon and evening!

Last year’s theme was the American West. This year’s was Noah’s Ark...complete with the ark, Noah and his wife. A variety of animal pairs were scattered around the castle grounds, including two camels beside the ark.

MacKenzie wanted her photo taken with just about every animal. That just proves how much of an animal lover she is. Here she’s petting a panda while its mate munches on some leaves.

All three kiddos liked these cows.

Zachary and MacKenzie got close to a kangaroo with Rapunzel’s tower in the background. We actually climbed up the tower this time, but didn’t find Rapunzel, even though her hair was hanging over the tower wall.

Labels: Benjamin, Germany, MacKenzie, Travel, Zachary