Fall Festival

We waited until almost the last minute, but we did make it to a Fall Festival yesterday.  Thankfully, it was a mere 10 minutes from our house and the school buses with field trip kids left just as we arrived! (Although I like the fact that my kids go on fun field trips, there is nothing so disheartening as arriving somewhere fun and seeing those big yellow buses parked in front.)  

The boys had an ENTIRE week of half-days (twitch, twitch), but Friday was the only non-rainy day (hello Pacific NW winter weather!).  Our friends had already gone to this festival, but were happy to go again so we could enjoy their company.  Plus, I brought along a teenager to keep Josh occupied.  We have reached the stage where doing an activity that everyone will enjoy has come and gone.  

Our first stop was at a hay maze.  The farm used hay bales inside one of the barns to create a fun maze for the younger crowd.  The middles and their buddies loved it.  Isaac.....well.....Isaac has been in full-on Baby Rage mode on the drive over, then flipped out when I took his jacket off, and it just got worse.  He entered the maze and then changed his mind.  As he was trying to get out, another kid came barreling in and knocked him down.  Normally, that is not a big deal.  But this time his teeth and mouth hit the concrete and soon his mouth was filling with blood.  Admittedly, he had every right to be upset at this point, but on top of everything else...

Do you ever feel like your nerves are pulled taut and the slightest touch could snap them or cause them to spasm.  Isaac can have that effect on me.  I almost packed everyone in the car at that point and went home.  But, the other boys were having a blast and thankfully mouth wounds tend to start healing quickly.  After cleaning him up a bit and giving him his nuk, he calmed down a bit.  He was clingy, but we could both reestablish a reasonable relationship with our sanity.

I sent Josh and his buddy off to the corn maze at this point since their eyes had glazed over, so there aren't many pictures of him from this adventure.

After the hay maze, my boys voted to go over to the hay fort.  They have very fond memories from the Cox Farms fort.  So simple, and yet they could spend hours climbing and jumping.  

Eventually their friends got bored, so we headed over to an activity area with a big slide, rubber duck water slides, bouncing tires and mini tractors.

Really all of that was to kill time until they could get on the jumping pillow.  Can someone please explain to me why we don't have one of these in our backyard?  (Jason??)

This was also the appointed time for the older boys to rejoin us, and then we all headed over to the hay ride.  At this point, Josh and his friend were trapped so I could finally get some photographic evidence that there were indeed participants in the afternoon's activities.

Then I set them loose again and the rest of us headed over to see the animals.  Isaac really enjoyed poking animals in the nose.  This sheep seemed a little put off, but it (he/she?) kept coming back for more.

There were also baby rabbits to be cuddled.  Michael made friends with his little one.

My friend held one for Isaac to pet.  It (he/she? I don't know how to identify the gender of farm animals) was so soft.  Shortly after I took this picture, Isaac got in close to give it a big hug.  A squeezy hug!  Luckily, my friend was there to rescue the beloved bunny and return it home.

The kids all washed their hands as I chased Isaac chasing a chicken.  Luckily, the chicken was smart enough to escape through the gate to safety.  I got Isaac cleaned up (sheep snot and pig snot and goat snot, oh boy!) and we decided to call it a day.

On the way out we measured the boys for something to reference next year.

It was fun. It was stressful. And we'll probably do it again next year.