Every October when we have hosted a Danish exchange student we have taken them to Huber's Farm for the Halloween/Harvest festival. This year we were lucky enough not to host a Danish student. Vincent was disappointed that we weren't hosting the student, Tim, that he stayed with in Denmark this past June.
Since it was Perry's birthday we decided to take him to Huber's. Perry wanted to take our friends, Carlos and Nora and their daughter Ana. Vincent asked if he could bring Tim and Tim's host here in the states, Sam (she becomes important later). So the whole troupe of us went off to what we thought would be a fun evening of activities and dinner.
When we got there everyone was excited. Vincent showed Tim how to shoot corn cobs from an air cannon (above). Almost everyone ended up giving that a try. Ana and Carlos both enjoyed using the sling shot to shoot rotten apples into the pond (below and below below).
We were even able to talk Vincent, Tim, Sam, and Ana into going down the inflatable slide. Several of them did it more than once. Perry even went down the slide but of course he had the camera so we didn't get a picture of that.
We herded all the kids together (which wasn't easy) and the adults and rode the wagon out to the goat field. We were given buckets of dried corn to feed the goats. This was a lot of fun, especially with Perry out playing with the goats and trying to feed them and get pictures at the same time. We all know about Perry's grease phobia, so you can only imagine him trying to feed the goats without touching the dried corn.
Later we came back to find a petting zoo. There were more baby goats along with pigs and chickens. At one point Vincent and Tim picked the lock of the feed machine which was full of quarters. When they tried to re-lock it they weren't able (when they got yelled at by us). Perry and I went off to tell the owners.
Finally, we rode a second wagon ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins for Halloween. Carlos, Nora, and Ana had never picked out pumpkins since Guatemalan Christians think Halloween is sinful. Pumpkins also don't grow in Guatemala. Tim had never picked a pumpkin since Denmark doesn't celebrate Halloween either. It was fun to have all these "newbies" to Halloween and share the whole pumpkin experience. On the ride back from the fields I got to explain to Nora about how to carve a pumpkin and to make toasted pumpkin seeds.
We were ready for dinner and went into the restaurant there at Huber's. We were tired and hungry and ready to sit down. We were horrified to find that the restaurant was closing. We had stayed out in the fields too long.
We herded all the kids together (which wasn't easy) and the adults and rode the wagon out to the goat field. We were given buckets of dried corn to feed the goats. This was a lot of fun, especially with Perry out playing with the goats and trying to feed them and get pictures at the same time. We all know about Perry's grease phobia, so you can only imagine him trying to feed the goats without touching the dried corn.
Later we came back to find a petting zoo. There were more baby goats along with pigs and chickens. At one point Vincent and Tim picked the lock of the feed machine which was full of quarters. When they tried to re-lock it they weren't able (when they got yelled at by us). Perry and I went off to tell the owners.
Finally, we rode a second wagon ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins for Halloween. Carlos, Nora, and Ana had never picked out pumpkins since Guatemalan Christians think Halloween is sinful. Pumpkins also don't grow in Guatemala. Tim had never picked a pumpkin since Denmark doesn't celebrate Halloween either. It was fun to have all these "newbies" to Halloween and share the whole pumpkin experience. On the ride back from the fields I got to explain to Nora about how to carve a pumpkin and to make toasted pumpkin seeds.
We were ready for dinner and went into the restaurant there at Huber's. We were tired and hungry and ready to sit down. We were horrified to find that the restaurant was closing. We had stayed out in the fields too long.
We used the phone book from Huber's to call a few other restaurant's that we know of in New Albany. We tried to make it to La Rosita, a Mexican restaurant run by one of my student's uncles. We pulled in (after Perry drove the wrong way down a one way street) just as they were closing shop also. We racked our brains for other options as the sun set and the hunger and grumbling from the not so friendly teenagers started to get louder. We came to an idea...Japanese! We ended up at the Japanese steak house, Kobe, in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
While Sam, Tim, and of course Perry, Vincent, and I have all been to Japanese steak houses before, Nora, Carlos, and Ana had not. They oohed and aahhed as the chef cooked and did tricks right in front of us. Vincent and his gang, Sam and Tim ate sushi on the other side of the table and were generally non-communicative with the rest of us.
Nora, Carlos, and Ana especially liked all the tricks the chef performed and the ginger sauce for the chicken. Nora, is a great cook, so I could see her trying to analyze the ingredients so she could recreate it at home. She might have to pass on the onion volcano. The volcano may be a little harder to recreate with out a table stove.
We enjoyed the food, the activities, and the company (or at least most of them anyways). Perry had a good birthday day with lots of fun. The ending was a little stressful with everything closing but we were able to pull off a great dinner. When we got home we had a surprise for him. I had managed to get a cake and decorate it for him. So after all of the activities (a day's worth) all the food (an army's worth) we still managed to have ice cream and cake.
While Sam, Tim, and of course Perry, Vincent, and I have all been to Japanese steak houses before, Nora, Carlos, and Ana had not. They oohed and aahhed as the chef cooked and did tricks right in front of us. Vincent and his gang, Sam and Tim ate sushi on the other side of the table and were generally non-communicative with the rest of us.
Nora, Carlos, and Ana especially liked all the tricks the chef performed and the ginger sauce for the chicken. Nora, is a great cook, so I could see her trying to analyze the ingredients so she could recreate it at home. She might have to pass on the onion volcano. The volcano may be a little harder to recreate with out a table stove.
We enjoyed the food, the activities, and the company (or at least most of them anyways). Perry had a good birthday day with lots of fun. The ending was a little stressful with everything closing but we were able to pull off a great dinner. When we got home we had a surprise for him. I had managed to get a cake and decorate it for him. So after all of the activities (a day's worth) all the food (an army's worth) we still managed to have ice cream and cake.
---- Stephanie
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So how old are you now?
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