Carving Jack O’Lanterns

Rain washed out our outdoor activities this weekend. So we had to audible.

On Saturday, we picked up a couple pumpkins to carve into jack o’lanterns.

Last year, when we were on our camping trip, we saw the intricately carved pumpkins of several other campers. From talking with them, we learned that you could buy templates with fancy designs, as well as special tools to help carve them.

We tried a couple of the more simple designs last year, but Kai wanted to move on to “level 2” designs this year. And so the early start on carving a couple pumpkins.

If we left if up to him, we would be carving about ten pumpkins. But, two seems enough to me. Of course, with more than two weeks yet to go until Halloween, we may be carving a few more yet.

Kai was excited to work on the first pumpkin. After I cut open the bottom of the pumpkin, he dug his hand in to take out the seeds and all the innards. Some kids may not like touching all that slimy stuff, but I think its Kai’s favorite part of the whole process.

Once the inside was cleaned out, I worked on tracing out the pattern and then cutting it out.

Can you tell what it is? (It looks better when it is lit up inside.)

My wife then sculpted out the lettering on the other side.

Today, we worked on the other pumpkin. This time it was my wife’s turn to cut out the design.

Kai wasn’t as excited about it as he was yesterday with the first one. This time he cleaned out the inside of the pumpkin, but then was disinterested until Mom had finished carving.

But when all was said and done, he was happy with the results. And, I must say, in the dark, with only the insides lit, they really capture the spirit, don’t you think?