Raising kids on a Caribbean island means they may miss some traditions from back home. However, when you have amazing friends like Mark and Tamara (really mostly Tamara, but Mark entertained Dad, so I guess he gets some credit), they get the best of both worlds! So prior to yesterday, the kid’s had never carved a pumpkin.

I gotta tell ya that had I known all the amazing pumpkin carving tools in existence to make the experience soooooooooooooo much fun – like red wine… I mean, the pumpkin jigsaw! That is the coolest tool! All the accoutrements that Tamara had, made it so easy for the kids to make pretty difficult designs for someone like me who grew up using one big fat knife and one small flat knife… and a Dad to wield the knives meaning that we, as kids, didn’t really do much carving, it was more about the roasted pumpkin seeds afterwards.

First of all, pumpkins are hard to get here. Not sure why we have an area called Pumpkin Hill in Utila? So Tamara picked up two pumpkins and a squash from the mainland (they didn’t have any more pumpkins).

Tamara had stacks of designs to choose from and she showed them how to trace the design onto the pumpkin with some little pokey stick. Then she had these teeny little serrated knives as well as those mini jigsaws! She even had a pumpkin goop-scooper!

I don’t know about you, but in the olden days, we would draw something simple, like triangular eyeballs with a big black marker and cut, hoping for the best.

Nina chose a circular design (the HORROR), and I wish she knew how impossible that would have been ‘in the old days’! She thought the process was a piece of cake! Or should I say “pumpkin pie”???

After tracing their designs they painstakingly cut their pumpkins. Nina was finished in no time! That’s better than any pumpkin I have ever carved!!! I only had flat knives when I was a kid so my jack-o-lantern always had triangular eyes and super sharp teeth!

Well we knew Trin likes detailed designs from all her artwork so hers took a bit longer. Tamara’s an expert so she started after all of them and hers was awesome too! So I think the kids first experience ever was a resounding success!!! What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The super Queen of Halloween Tamara, even made a Pine-o-Pumpkin out of a pineapple! It looks like Wilson from Castaway! LOL. When you live on an island, sometimes you need to make do!

I’m so proud of them and super grateful to have amazing friends who can give super motherly experiences to our kids! Thanks Tamara!!! The pumpkins are definitely the baddest ones on Utila!!

Happy Halloween everyone!

 

p.s. Sorry for the crazy formatting! I’m a mom and a realtor, not a blogger or a publisher!