Fall Bucket List

Fall is definitely upon us and I am enjoying every minute of it! I actually cannot decide if Fall/Halloween or Winter/Christmas is my favorite time of year. I would have to say the month of October this year has been my favorite of all time! I took the time to decorate for fall as soon as Labor Day had passed and the mums and pumpkins were ready (check that post out here and here.) I have had a mental “Fall Bucket List” and have been pretty motivated to accomplish the items on the list.

• Decorate for fall outdoors
• Do something frightful or in true Halloween spirit every weekend of October
• Watch my all-time favorite movie, Hocus Pocus
• Carve pumpkins
• Bake something pumpkin
• Bake something apple
• Bake and decorate fall cookie cutouts
• Dress up and attend a costume party/contest
• Try an Oktoberfest beer with a shot of cake vodka (Heard it tastes like pumpkin pie.)
• Have a bonfire with a weenie roast.

I do not have many pictures to share and I promise to be better about that.

The first weekend of this month, our friends Mark and Kim invited us to a haunted house in Petersburg, IL. It was called Terror on the Square and was actually in an old funeral home. Crazy, right? I was psyching myself out about it, thinking it was going to be so realistic I wouldn't be able to sleep when we got home. However, it was pretty good, but not as legit as I thought it was going to be, so I survived and was ready to go to more.

Last week, mom and I enjoyed a trip over to Calhoun County on a search for all the fall fixins’, including; pumpkins, gourds, squash, apples, indian corn etc. The favorite place of ours must have gotten out of the business because they had no produce in their yard, so we were on a mission to find a new pumpkin stand. We headed to Ringhausen’s and they had the most awesome shellacked pumpkins.

How easy!? Spray pumpkins with clear acrylic for a glossy effect. 

I had already purchased my pumpkins and mums and plucked hedge balls for my fall décor, but I was in need of some good Jonathan apples for baking.

I walked away with a pale peach pumpkin and a half peck of apples. It was such a beautiful day.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures; they were taken on my phone.

This past weekend we joined Nathan’s sister and her husband, his brother, Chad and a friend of his to Six Flags in St. Louis for FrightFest. We made a day out of hitting up our favorite barbeque place, Pappy’s in St. Louis for lunch and Six Flags in the afternoon and some frightful activities for the evening.

We purchased Six Flags season passes, as they were $49.99 for the rest of 2012 and all of 2013 until the end of October, next year. We thought that would encourage us to go back again next summer, maybe twice (once for the rides and once for the water park) and also, Fright Fest. We were a little bummed to discover that the actual Fright Fest activities cost an additional $25 for the 4 haunted attractions…not cool. However, if we go next year, it wouldn't seem so bad to purchase the “Slasher Pass,” which is the pass for all 4 haunted attractions for the additional $25. You could purchase a ticket to each haunted attraction, for between $8 and $10. We went on the haunted hayride, called the Backlot Terror. They had a few explosions, where you could actually feel the heat on the hay wagon. It definitely got us in the “scary spirit” of the season. I hope we are able to make it back next year.

I crossed another item off of my Fall Bucket List last night and baked Pumpkin Cheesecake Bread…
Mmm…delicious. Here is the recipe. Anyone else bake any fall yummies?

Tonight my sister and I are planning to bake Halloween cookie cutouts and decorate them with my mom, niece and nephew. I can't wait to share the chaos in a post soon, along with the rest of my Fall Bucket List items.