CHILDREN OF THE CORN

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch on Monday evening.   Almost immediately, G and the boys disappeared into this......

Personally, I try to stay out of corn mazes.  I'm afraid I might die of allergies.  Or of  whatever whoever is hiding in the corn.  I believe Stephen King had something to say about that, and when Stephen King tells me to stay out of corn fields and away from rabid St. Bernards, I listen.

Not to mention, the corn maze is not the most economical of the pumpkin patch choices.

But they certainly got their money's worth.  They were in the corn maze for almost an hour!  Just as I was starting to worry they would never come out, they emerged.  From the entrance. 

Feeling that the corn maze had defeated them, they decided to go back in, through the exit, in search of a path that would connect them back to the entrance.  They were gone again for a very long time, and when they emerged, it was not from the exit or the entrance.  They came back through the front gate of the pumpkin patch.  Having been totally and completely lost, they walked sideways out of the corn and followed the railroad tracks back to the road.

What did I do while they were lost in the corn for 90 minutes?  Besides wondering how long I should wait before sending in a search party, I took pictures.  Lot's of pictures.

  

As the sun got lower and lower in the sky, there were actually a few minutes where I wondered if the pumpkin patch would close and my family would have to spend the night in the corn.  I, of course, would have gone home to sleep in my own bed.

But happily, no one had to camp out in the corn field.  They even came out in time for me to snap a few quick pictures of them before we headed home.

Happy pumpkin picking!

GOOD CORNY FUN

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday.  I made sure to take a double dose of allergy medication beforehand.

This time, we invited some friends to join us for the corn maze so we could have an a-MAIZE-ing party like my friend Gina did a few weeks ago. 

The entrance and exit for this particular corn maze were one and the same.  It took awhile to figure that out, but at least no one had to call 911 to be rescued from the corn.  You heard about the people who called 911 last week because they were lost in the corn maze, right?  We did have to call into the maze to let everyone else know they needed to come out the same way they came in.  According to G, the best thing to do if you're ever trapped in a corn maze is to just burn it down.

It makes me sneeze just looking at them sit on that hay.

Which explains why we didn't go on the hayride.  But isn't this a lovely picture of the people who did?

Then we all headed back to the house for some corny treats.

Corn chowder. Corn bread. Corn chips and chili. High fructose-corn syrup. And of course, candy corn!  We would have had Corn Nuts, but the 7-11 didn't have any.  What kind of 7-11 doesn't have Corn Nuts?  That's so EAR-isponsible.  (I'm totally stealing all of my corny jokes from Gina). 

No matter, we still had a CORN-tastic time!

ITS THE GREAT PUMPKINS

We made our annual visit to the local pumpkin patch yesterday.

Remember the flower costume? Well, this pumpkin photo-op got me thinking.  I could get some orange posterboard, cut it into a pumpkin shape and make a hole for the head.  Instant Halloween costume!  Or, I could just go steal these from the pumpkin patch after dark . . .

Here's T pondering his pumpkin purchase.  Oh wait, those are for display only . . .

Perhaps we'll have to peruse the patch to pick a pumpkin.  Perfect!

Except now that we have pumpkins, the kids will expect pumpkin carving.  And if there's one thing I hate about Halloween, it's pumpkin carving.  I love going to the pumpkin patch, but once we've done that, I'd just as soon let the pumpkins rot on the front porch.  Seriously, who came up with this disgusting, slimy holiday tradition?  I'm pretty sure it was the Plymouth Pumpkin Growers Association. Haven't you seen their add campaign? The one featuring famous people with their hands covered in pumpkin guts.

Got pumpkin?

O PUMPKIN PATCH, O PUMPKIN PATCH . . .

Most people I know say fall is their favorite time of year and I'm pretty sure the pumpkin patch has something to do with that.

One of the reasons I love the pumpkin patch so much is that I grew up in Wyoming, where we'd skip fall and head straight for winter. Pumpkin patches are pretty hard to come by in Wyoming.

Obviously, the experience is much more authentic than picking up a pumpkin at your local Wal Mart. You probably won't see a corn maze at Wal Mart in October. Although I wouldn't be surprised to see a petting zoo.

During this year's visit to the pumpkin patch, T fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams . . . going through a corn maze. Every year we tell him it's too expensive. But this year, after the pumpkins were purchased and put in the back of the car, he made sure to point out that there was enough cash left over for the corn maze.

Technically, there was only enough cash for 4 of us to go through the corn maze. As a mother, I am used to making sacrifices, and so I said, "Why don't you boys all go through the corn maze? I'll just hang around the pumpkin patch with my camera and no one to bother me or tell me to hurry up for the next 20 minutes or so." Sigh.

Now I just have to find the motivation to turn all those pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.