Our pumpkin this year was particularly large, 337 pounds of dead orange weight. After a brief attempt at rearranging it, we quickly decided to simply carve it as it lay. Building off of the knowledge gained last year at the carve, we managed to do a far superior job with the carving in our second attempt, and yet I think we would both agree we need to take a more dimensional approach to the carving next year.

Our problem is that we tried to carve a two-dimensional scene onto the face of the pumpkin rather than utilizing the pumpkin, itself, and truly sculpting it. At the conclusion of the carving this year, I think both Michelle and I had the same epiphany. Too bad we now have to wait another year to realize it.

The true fun of the event, aside from slicing and dicing a massive fleshy vegetable, is having friends and family stroll by and join us for the festivities. Michelle's mom brought chili this year for everyone to enjoy while we carved. And even more importantly, this year E was actually there. Last year, Michelle was battling the pumpkin for the "most roundest award." This year, E played games with his grandparents and aunts while the rest of us hacked away at the fleshy veggie.

The winner of the event, by the way, was also a fish-themed pumpkin. Oddly enough, (and I'm sure by no coincidence) the winning pumpkin was located directly in front of the main entrance again this year. A father and son team carved their pumpkin into a rather stellar fish, complete with fins and a smoking mouth. "Smoked Salmon," they named it.

We never got around to actually naming ours. But we still managed to have a wonderful time.