The Folkerts!
Me & My buddy!
Ky showing Aunt Liz his math
On the hayride to get pumpkins
Happy Pumpkin Day!
What happened to this pumpkin?
Mission: Find THE pumpkin!
Now Alaina...The rule is you must be able to carry your pumpkin!
Searching for the perfect pumpkin
Found it!
What do you think?
Yup...not good enough. Off to find another pumpkin...
Here it is!
Carrying them back to the wagon!
Alaina's Pumpkin
Riding back with our pumpkins!
Super happy about the perfect pumpkin choice!
The bounce house
Going down the giant slide
It's cold out here Aunt Liz!
Driving the tractor!
The corn maze
And a child will lead them...
Driving the Bulldozer
How do I steer this thing?
The pumpkin eating dinosaur?
Feeding the Doats!
Riding bikes
Painting pumpkins
Ky & his painted pumpkin
Alaina's handprinted pumpkin
In mid October we were off to visit the Folkerts. We had tried several times to get together with them earlier, but due to illness and conflicting schedules things just weren't working out. We actually agreed to this weekend only a day or two before we left because we were unable to agree on any other date until the new year. WOW! But we did it.
Of course we were off to a late start as usual--this time not because of the kids though--this time because of a flat tire. It appears I ran over another nail! UGH! So Rob took the tire off and patched it up. We were still a little nervous to drive 6 hours on a freshly patched tire so we decided to take the Camry. Wow! That car feels SO SMALL after driving the family in a van. The kids were loud, we were getting kicked. Basically the drive sucked!
On the way there we stopped at DJ's Dent & Bent and bought ourselves some goodies to help us make it on the road, as well as stocked up on some food for cheap. The kids then slept a while. Yeah! And we eventually ended up stopping at a pretty shady looking Wendy's just inside the Indiana border. We had been looking for food for a little while, but the exits were offering very little. In fact I believe Wendy's was the only restaurant at this exit. The floors were nasty, (carpet in a fast food restaurant is really disgusting!), the toilets were nasty, and well the food just wasn't all that good either.
Our new walker of course wanted to run around and explore. We kept pretty tight reigns on her so that she didn't touch anything too gross. Seriously, there should be stricter upkeep rules about the general cleanliness of restaurants and bathrooms. I will not eat there again.
We then climbed back in the car. We had about one more hour until we reached the promise land. Alaina cried for about 40 minutes of that. We plugged Ky into Bob the Builder (thank goodness we purchased that portable DVD player this past summer.) We were very happy to get there.
We all walked into the Folkerts and greeted them. We were just so happy to be out of the tiny car. We ended up handing Alaina over to Liz while we got the rest of our stuff out of the van. I think we ended up traumatizing poor Alaina. She screamed and screamed. She must have thought we were leaving her or something. When we brought everything in, I took her back, but then she just clung to me for the longest time. And I have to say, she just hasn't been quite the same since. In fact we (Rob) took her to the Doc and they believe she is suffering from delayed separation anxiety. The last month she just has not been sleeping well. She cries until we lay her back down in her bed. It has been harder leaving her at the gym so we can work out. Even when I am working at Child Watch she will sometimes cling to me. She wants to be held often. I don't mind. She is my baby so I enjoy that she still wants to be close to me, but the whole night time stuff is starting to wear on me.
Anyways the kids soon warmed up and we let them play a little bit. Alaina kept all of us on our toes by trying to grab all the things she knew she shouldn't have. ( i.e. fireplace poker, candles, coffee cups.) Ky was intrigued by the stationary bicycle which he would get on and then need help to get down.
We put the kids down shortly after that and us adults had a few drinks and chatted until was too tired to keep going....I was ready for bed---especially realizing the kids would be up soon enough. We put Ky and Alaina down to sleep in the same room, and it didn't work. We ended up having to move Alaina to our room and Ky was left to sleep in a strange room by himself. He did GREAT! We--well Ididn't think it was going to work out, but it did! YEAH KY! What a big boy you are!
Alaina slept most of the night in her bed as well, except she was in our room. We had no complaints with that.
The next morning we were off for a day of fun. We ended up going to a local Pumpkin Patch Carnival sort of thing. This was our only weekend to have a chance to take the kids pumpkin picking so we asked Adam and Liz to see if they could find a place. Well I don't think we knew what we got ourselves into. I have to say it was the cheesiest pumpkin patch I have ever been to. And it was the pumpkin eating dinosaur that put this place over the top. It was so weird and bizarre you just had to watch this backhoe dressed as a dinosaur grab these moldy pumpkins and smash it between its teeth. WEIRD!
This place also had a feed the animal section--and Ky did enjoy feeding the "doats" as usual. There was also a small track for him to ride bikes. It was too cold for us to stand around and watch him ride bikes, so I bribed him to look at the animals and play in the sand area where there were bulldozers and such.
After that we went to the corn maze. Of course, we chose the Hardest corn maze. We let Ky lead us---he got us through the maze in less than 5 minutes. (I have to say I was really bummed by this--the corn mazes in Wisconsin usually take you 45 - 60 minutes to get through--and that is when you don't let a child lead you.) There was also a "Dark" haystack maze that you have to crawl through. Ky wanted to do it, so I went with him. We got about 4 feet in and he wanted out. He was done. I was kind of bummed because it looked fun.
Then we found the inflatable slide. Ky was pretty stoked about that. Daddy and him went down first and then U. Adam went with Ky. Sadly only my pics with Daddy & Ky came out. bleh!
After that we went to the bounce house where all of us, except Ky (the bouncer) froze. Eventually we had to pull him out so we could pick our pumpkins and get going. It was just too chilly. So we hopped on the hayride out to the patch. Rob and I decided to implement the "you must be able to carry your pumpkin" rule for the kids. Though Alaina was exempted from the rule this year.
It was fun watching Ky run through the field with his Aunt and Uncle. He would pick up one pumpkin and then put it down and get another. He could not make up his mind which one he wanted. Eventually we had to step in and "help" him make up his mind. Daddy also found a cute little pumpkin for Alaina. Adam went all out and got a gigantic pumpkin. It was quite an impressive one. When we got back to the scales, Adam' s pumpkin weighed around 40 lbs! That is a LOT of pie!
After that we were in search of dinner. We tried a couple of places. One that was closed---it appears they just started new hours, but did not update their website! ARGH! and another that was packed. With 2 hungry kids we were not going to wait 45 minutes for a table. We ended up eating at 5 Guys--which we have in Madison, but have not been to. It was really good food. Next time Rob and I will remember to order the normal size burger since the large one was HUGE!
After we put the kids to bed, Rob and I were introduced to Liz & Adam's Wii. I have to say that I had a good time, though Rob became a poor sport when we started the racing game. Not my fault he sucks at MarioKart--suck it up, man! Some of us are just gifted! :)
The next morning we painted pumpkins (or squashes) together, before we hit the road. This was Liz and Adam's idea--and a good one at that. Ky still talks about painting pumpkins with them AND he thanks God for letting him paint pumpkins almost every night at the dinner prayer. TOO CUTE!
The trip back was less eventful and seemed to go much faster--yeah! I think there was less traffic overall and the kids were good sleepers. It was a very good trip though--and I am glad that we didn't put it off until next year. Thanks Adam and Liz for your hospitatlity! It was fun! And we always enjoy spending time with you!
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