An Evening in Sleepy Hollow

Last weekend we drove up to Oak Glen to Riley's Farm to attend the Sleepy Hollow dinner show. We love going up to Riley's Farm to pick apples or berries of pumpkins, and have always wanted to try one of their dinner shows , so this year we went for it and bought tickets a while ago for their Halloween dinner show, "Sleepy Hollow."

We got there early, so we had time to wander around the farm. It was pretty chilly and overcast up there. How fun it was to put on sweaters and get a little taste of autumn!

Nathan may have started with one of those typical teenager attitudes, but Dennis squeezed it out of him. I love this picture. What a dad! What a kid!

Hey, hay!

My boys.

Funny pumpkin! (I mean Caleb, not the gourd.)

Fall is in the air!

Later we made our way to the big barn where the dinner was held, but before we could be seated the kids had a great time discovering everything in the general store.

Hand-made wooden guns and slingshots, costumes, and of course CANDY! What's not to love when you're a kid?

Sweet!

Inside the barn was set up with long rows of tables and a terrific bluegrass band was fiddling the night away. Hot creamy potato soup started us off and hit the spot on a chilly evening!

Caleb having a conversation with a man in a three-cornered hat. The actors in the play were also the servers and stayed in character the whole evening.

They also sang to Caleb since he was a birthday boy!

Together time!

While we were waiting for dinner, we took a hayride around Sleepy Hollow. Derek got to sit right next to Ichabod Crane as he tried to court his lady. The ride was dark and spooky as we rode through the misty cold night. Thank goodness I had a cup of hot chocolate to sip!

VanBuskirk, party of 10.

Then the play started. It was quite clever! They performed it in sections, intermittently throughout the evening, and in between we would eat and play games, have activities, and dance.

While our table waited to get called for dinner, we decided to see who could and could not do a "taco tongue." It is a genetic thing. You either can or can't.

Nathan working it.

Derek tried a little manual manipulation with no luck, and Alex, well, he is a teenager and refused to even participate in something so uncool as taco tongue.

In the end, only Mom and I are blessed with the gift of taco tongue. Such a shame I was not able to pass that gene on to my posterity.

Dinner was terrific! Down home country barbecue!

After dinner the games began. First, a pumpkin seed spitting contest. In the end, Nathan was the big winner - spitting a seed clear across the barn floor! He may not have a taco tongue, but that boy has his own set of skills!

Then they had a pumpkin carving contest - one pumpkin per family. Our pumpkin was shaped like a skull, so we went with that. Alex helped me carve, and we bot a bag of red candies from the store and used them for the eyes.

I really thought we would win, because ours was by far the best, but alas, the judges went for a far inferior Dracula pumpkin. Maybe we were disqualified for the use of the candy. Still, I was quite proud of our creation, and happy that we got to take him home with us!

There was also a hanging apple eating game. Hilarious!

Poor Lukie had been sick, and still wasn't feeling to hot. He got worn out early on and spent some of the evening sleeping in the corner.

Then the dancing began. Doe-see-doe and around we go. So fun to dance with my boys! Dylan got up the nerve to ask the leading lady to dance and she went a whole song with him. Ladies' man!

Then came the pumpkin pie eating contest. Dylan dug right in.

And so did Nate and Caleb. But in the end, the winner was a girl.

Then the big guns had a turn. The adults had to eat a quarter pie. Dennis made a great showing and was neck and neck with another guy, but barely lost. I am such a proud wife.

The play concluded by having the whole audience go outside to watch Ichabod Crane get scared out of his mind by the headless horseman. It was so cool because a rider on horseback came thundering past with a flaming pumpkin for a head, and poor Icabod ran off screaming into the night. The fog was just so thick by then that it made everything just extra spooky and surreal! Perfect! Couldn't have asked for better special effects!

In the end we came home with the pie Nate won for his seed spitting feat, the caramel apple Caleb scored for being a birthday boy, our fabulous skeleton jack-o-lantern, a ton of fun pictures, and a whole lot of memories for a fantastic fall evening!

We will definitely be doing this again! Happy Fall, y'all!