Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Pumpkin Bombing. Again.

YES! We bombed the river with pumpkins on Thanksgiving, again. I know you've been dying with curiosity...

If you're new to the blog and you're all like WHAT IS PUMPKIN BOMBING? It is exactly what it sounds like. About twelve years ago, as I drove over the old rickety wooden bridge that crossed the San Antonio river...the one on our dirt road...I thought to myself, "Dang. I sure would like to drop a pumpkin over the bridge into the river. I bet it would make a big splash." And yes, twelve years ago - I was technically well into adulthood. Anyway - since that Thanksgiving found us with a couple of pumpkins still intact, we decided to see if it would be as much fun as it sounded.

IT WAS. They made huge gigantic wonderful splashes!! Some of them even exploded upon impact!! We were hooked.

We've done it every year since. Sometimes with a lot of people, sometimes with a few. We used to hold onto the kids by their pants so they wouldn't follow the pumpkins into the river. Now they're all bigg-ish and such and we don't do that anymore. A few other changes - in the name of progress - our delightful wooden bridge was torn down and a butt-ugly concrete one was put in its place. The dirt road was paved. So our pumpkin bombing isn't as picturesque as it once was, but it is still freakishly fun.

We had a small Thanksgiving this year - it was just what I needed. By small, I mean our family of 7, plus El's boyfriend, my dad and sister, and a few friends.

My dad is counting down back there. It's good that he counted down. Because when he tosses he cheats. How can you cheat at pumpkin tossing you ask?



Well, you'd think the bombing and the splashing and whatnot would be enough. But this gang wants a WINNER. Actually, it was probably Ellie who started that. Let's say it was.

Once the pumpkins are tossed, everyone runs across to the other side of the bridge to see who's pumpkin comes out the other side first. And if you're wondering how we tell the pumpkins apart, let me just say that I don't think we can. Hence the ensuing arguments as to who won. Here is the winning pumpkin. Who is belongs to is still being debated.


Before the tossing, there is all kinds of posturing. Here is The Joels.


Then there's posing for pics. Papa with Camille, Ellie, and Jasper. 


And here's ME and the man.
And finally, as we left the pumpkins, the river, and a gaggle of gawkers who never did figure out what we were doing but seemed to enjoy themselves, nonetheless...Camille took this lovely picture.
It would be perfect without the power lines.

I hope your Thanksgiving was as lovely, even if you wasted your pumpkins by baking them in pies.

4 comments:

  1. EPIC! My kids are so jealous! We must find a way to do this in Seattle. Pumpkins in the surf?

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  2. You are such a cool mom. Seriously.

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  3. What about identifying them by (spray)painting them before you throw them into the water? I wish you all the best for the ret of the holiday season. Please don't work too much, so we get to read some fun stuff about how it all went...

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  4. OMG please get rid of the posting above!! I've been wanting to tell you that I just finished reading "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert and I kept thinking, she's so funny! Almost as funny as Carol is. I am not kidding. That is why you need to get your stuff written and published! But no pressure or anything.

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