The Wellspring of Life: fall fun

With one of the homeschool groups we participate in, the kids and I visited Devine's Corn Maze. Due to cancellations of others, we were able to invite our friends Melissa and McKenzie to join us. We all loaded up the van and headed towards Harrodsburg. Aside from the trip coordinator, we were the first eager beavers to arrive. The kids played tag and ring-around-the-rosies to pass the time while we waited for everyone else.

Our first stop, the playground! The playground offered a small slide, itty bitty maze, rubber duck races, tires, and the tunnel swings. By far, the kids favorite was the tunnel swings. We had messed around on the playground for some time, so we ventured over to the kiddie corn maze on our own. It was virtually just a loop, so Melissa and I let the kids run through on their own several times. Next, we visited a few of the animals before rejoining the group.

The group decided to go through the Kiddie Maze and First Timer Maze while waiting for our hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Since our kids had gone through the Kiddie Maze sufficiently, we were sure we'd have time to get through the First Timer Maze before the wagon's departure, and that is where the ERROR in our thinking began. Obviously, we are all extremely directionally challenged!!! We let the kids take the lead but insisted we all stayed together. It seemed as if this First Timer Maze was taking a really long time, but as long as I heard the voices of the group, I knew we were doing ok. When I heard a tractor start, I began to get concerned. I pushed my way up to the front to take the lead only to catch a glimpse through the cornstalks of our group on the wagon driving by. (Hmmmm.... thanks for sending that search party after the 6 group members missing!)

New plan of action... make our own paths! I started pushing cornstalks to the side and blazing my own trail and the kids followed behind. We actually did this repeatedly and followed trails only when they presented themselves. After creating several paths of our own, we emerged from the corn maze.... no longer at the end of the first timer maze, but on the very far side of the GIGANTIC maze. The look on the kids faces as they came out only to see the entire group on the wagon across the field. They were disappointed, but I assured them we'd ride the wagon on the way back. We set off on foot and traipsed through the dusty fields to meet the others in the pumpkin patch.

Look carefully... we should have exited the First Timer maze just right of the yellow sign. We exited as far to left as you can see.... the side of the GIGANTIC, HUGE MAZE!!!

Exiting the maze a little dazed and confused!

Caleb is distraught and Melissa has the giggles!

It didn't take us too long to catch up. The tractor in the distance kept us motivated!

The kids chose their pumpkins and we loaded the wagon to head back with the others. Unfortunately, the ride back was considerably shorter than the ride out. Hopefully, the kids didn't catch on to that. At this point, several of the group decided to break for lunch. Since we had really done all there was to do, we made the decision to go back to the nearest town for a fast-food lunch. Looking back, we should have piled into the van along with our pumpkins, but instead, we played a bit on the tunnel swing again.

Then, I get the bright idea to try the First Timer Maze again. I was confident that if we entered the EXIT, surely, we would come out the ENTRANCE. We couldn't possilby mess it up... again. Melissa took the lead since my past track record wasn't speaking so highly. However, it seemed as if we were walking circles again and having difficulty. The kids started chanting... "Let's make our own path!" Oh my... our kids will never want to do a maze properly again. Melissa and I vetoed the kids suggestion and decided we'd retrace our steps. I suppose we at least did that with some success because not only did we go in the EXIT we came out the EXIT. Yes, two 30-somethings and our 4 little ones were defeated by the FIRST TIMER MAZE. Oh well... we had more fun than the others while we made our own adventure. We cut our losses and headed to McDonald's. After our trying morning, I even caved and let the kids get Mighty Kids Meals (aka: the coveted toy!).

10/10/10 = 5 - atleast for Caleb!!!! Sunday marked Caleb's official 5th birthday. After celebrating the evening before with the family, Caleb felt really special celebrating (in his mind) again. Our church planned an outing for the Pre-K - 5th graders to Evan's Orchard, and the kiddos had a great time!!!!

With weather in the upper 80's and the kids sporting shorts, it didn't quite "feel" like fall. Despite our sweating, we enjoyed the orchard atmosphere. Of course, this was another first for Jeremiah and Rachel. We played on the gigantic slide, climbed on hay bales and tractor tires, ran the rat race, took a wagon ride, played on the swings, rode miniature tractors, walked through the small corn maze, and purchased some small pumpkins to bring home. It was a lot of fun.