Thunder, Lightning, and Hale: Sebastianfest

A few weeks ago, a friend told me about the largest pumpkin festival in the world. The Kürbisausstellung Ludwigsburg (the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival) is held every fall. But looking at the calendar, I found out that only one weekend remained of this party! We decided that the Pumpkinfest would make an excellent birthday outing for a boy who's turning two.

The festival is nestled behind the Ludwigsburg Palace, one of the largest original baroque palaces in Germany. The gardens, however, were the most impressive feature of this place. The grounds were clean and stately, lined with green, orange, and white pumpkins. And it couldn't have been a more perfect day. The sun was shining so bright that we shed our jackets and enjoyed the first weekend of November in short sleeves.

We entered the real pumpkin part of the festival once we circled around to the back of the palace. We found ourselves eating samples of pumpkin slices and seeds, and surrounded by pumpkin sculptures and artwork. Sebastian was just as amazed as I was to see a life-sized dinosaur completely made from pumpkins.

"Di-saur!"

After exploring the grounds, we decided it was time to partake of the pumpkin goods! The menu featured pumpkin spaghetti, pumpkin stir fry, pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin popcorn. We tried pumpkin quiche, pumpkin Maultaschen in pumpkin soup, pumpkin fries, savory pumpkin pancakes, and a vegetarian pumpkin burger.

Pumpkin quiche, Sebastian's favorite

Pumpkin Maultaschen in pumpkin soup, our favorite

Sebastian fell asleep while we were exploring the rest of the gardens. So Livia got some well-deserved alone time and a great view of the palace.

After the Pumpkin Festival, we trekked across the city to the church building where the ward was hosting a Halloween party. Pumpkins and candy in one day? What a birthday treat! Since we have nothing, we fashioned a pirate costume with an over-sized white shirt, a black belt, and a scarf. I brought some eyeliner to draw on his face, but it didn't really matter anyway. He hasn't ever really been trick-or-treating. Last year, we dressed up fancy and walked around the block until we reached the Hutchinson's house. Sebastian ate one sucker, and then we went home. This year, he walked around to each of the trunks and said, "Treat, please." It took him a while to catch on, but he loved the result. He knows what his treat bag looks like and knows exactly where it is.

To some, that would seem like sufficient birthday celebration for a kid his size, but no. We party for an entire week at our house. On Sebastian's birthday, I was not allowed to tell him no, we didn't go shopping, we spend all morning at the park with other kids, Dad came home early, and we made homemade pizza and donuts.