Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Pumpkin Patch Play


Over the weekend we did the obligatory pumpkin patch fall farm day. This year we picked Souther Belle Farms. A great farm with a pumpkin patch, huge corn maze, cow train, peda carts, corn cannons, hay slides, pig races, and more. We went with my sister Tara and her kids Savahhah (10), Shelby (8), John (6), and Landon (3).

The kids were immediately impressed with the pumpkin patch and wanted to spend all of their time there. But we convinced
them there was more to see.

That would include the cow train...



(Shelby was particularly impressed)...

A litle time in the kiddie corral with horse swings made from recycled tires...


Several runs down the fastest slide on any farm for 100 miles..


And then on to the corn maze

But not just any little dinky corn maze. This one was massive and divided into three mazes of escalating length and difficulty.

Maze #1. We all went in together. We got a little separated. Bill and I got turned around and exited out the entrance, but within 10 minutes everyone was out and all was good.

Maze #2. Potty break for the little ones so John went into the maze followed by Savannah and Shelby hand in hand with Bailey.

Five minutes later John came running out and we figured the girls would be right behind...

But it wasn't so. The minutes pass and we start to worry. We start asking others coming out if they saw the girls and no one had. So Bill and I head into the maze to see if we can find them, no luck. At about the 20 minute mark, Savannah calls on her cell phone. Thank goodness for a 10 year old having a cell phone. They somehow got separated from Shelby. Shelby was somewhere lost and alone and Savannah was with Bailey lost, scared and crying. I had Savannah yell at the top of the lungs and we couldn't hear her. The maze was that big. I was running through the maze in my new practical high heeled crocs yelling for them. I finally came across a lookout bridge and climbed it and low and behold I found Savannah on a lookout bridge in maze three. Only problem was none of the workers knew how to get to that bridge. It was off of the trail. We finally found one guy who knew exactly how to get to her. He ran through to get Savannah and Bailey and in the meantime Shelby had been found by a passerby in Maze 2. She was crying, distraught, and just happy to be back with everyone. About 30 minutes after the girls had gone in the maze, Savannah and Bailey were escorted out. Here's our hero...

That was enough corn maze fun for one day so on to release some anxiety by shooting corn husks from a pressurized cannon....

And playing in the maize...

By this time it was near closing time. Just enough time to pick our pumpkins...



And call it a day in our adventures at the farm.









Wednesday, October 7, 2009

What no parent wants to hear

Last night Reagan and I had a conversation:

Reagan: I don't have any friends
Me: What are you talking about? You have lots of friends. Everyone likes you.
Reagan: Then why won't they play with me?

Ugh! Just crush me. Spear my heart and take it out with a fork. This was something I hoped I'd never have to hear. No parent wants to hear that their child is being picked on, doesn't belong, or doesn't have any friends.

This bothered me all night. I couldn't wait to get to school in the morning to talk to her teacher and see what was going on. She's only been at her school a few weeks but as far as I could tell she was transitioning just fine.

When I got to school I told her teacher what Reagan said. Her teacher almost laughed and said, "Reagan? Reagan clicked with everyone immediately. She's always playing with someone. She's got lots of friends here."

It turns out Reagan was just getting a little homesick for her old friends and was missing them. I feel bad that she misses her old friends, but drew a heavy sigh of relief that all is well in her new school.

Let's hope it is a very long time before we have that conversation again. In fact, how about never?