The Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular

A month or so ago I got an email from my friend Alexandra. Not only is she the girls yoga beloved teacher but over the years she's become a good friend of mine. She is one cool chick that Alexandra and I am so glad that our paths crossed all those years ago! In the email she explained that she was in the process of putting together a website about all things Halloween in New England and that she was looking for some pictures to use on the aforementioned website. In thinking about the kind of pictures she was looking for I came to mind and she was hoping that I would let her use some of the ones that I have taken over the years. I couldn't have been more honored that she thought of me and quickly replied to let her know that she (of course) had standing permission to any and all of my pictures. She sent a grateful note of thanks and got to work pouring over our blog. I was blown away to see the Halloween New England website and her sweet email of thanks was one that I shall treasure forever. As an additional thank you she sent a lovely thank you note in the mail along with four tickets to the Roger Williams Zoo Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular! It was such a lovely surprise! We headed to Providence this past Sunday evening to check out this event. And what an event it was!

We arrived and stopped by the swan boats first. There was no line and we were thrilled to get to have yet another swan boat experience (though this time in the dark)!

After the Swan Boats we made our way over to the zoo. The line to buy tickets was huge but we got to bypass all that since we know people! As we were waiting in line we learned that there were 5,000 jack-o-lanterns along the pumpkin trail. Evidently they use a total of 20,000 during the course of this event!

And while some photograph better than others there really is no way to accurately capture how gorgeous they are in person!

It was way more crowded than we would have liked (or expected) and I'm happy that both Dave and I were taking pictures. He captured way more than I did as I was navigating the girls through the dark sea of people. 

The girls and I were sad to hear that we missed seeing this one in person. I'm so glad that Dave saw it and snapped a picture for us! Such an awesome papa he is!

Behold the pumpkin tree! This is super hard to photograph as it's true beauty really needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated! 

One word of caution: If you are going with little littles (or you have kids that scare easily) the first section of the pumpkin trail is rather spooky. The music that's playing paired with the eerier jack-o-lanterns can be tough for some kids. Add in how dark and crowded it can get and you have a recipe for disaster. We heard many a crying child in that portion of the trail. Once you get passed that section the rest is lovely and not scary at all! 

We had such a magnificent time! Thanks Alexandra for all your gratitude, love and support, but most importantly thanks so much for the tickets to this wonderful event! The only way it could have been any better would have been if you could have been there with us!