Down on the Farm

Last Saturday, Scott and Cody went to the Portland Temple to be sealed, and since it was such a blessing day, I offered to babysit all the grandkids so all the parents could attend. PrairieDawn isn't taking a bottle yet, so she went with Mom and Dad, and her Grandpa Gary babysat her right there at the temple so he had easy and quick access to her mama. :)
Fortunately, Mark, Connor, Sarah and Kyle offered (mostly) to go along with me and the kids to Bauman Farms' Harvest Fest, which is like Disneyland Down Home.

So, in two large vehicles - Ford Expedition and Chevy Suburban - we headed to the farm, along with about three thousand other pumpkin lovers. It was shocking to see the parking lot of the farm so full, and it was then that I began thinking 'what have I got us into?' But, the kids were excited and we were committed - and by then, Simeon-who-worships-tractors had spotted one and was building up a full head of steam to see the 'twactoos'!

We bought our tickets, and then divided into strategic groups: Sarah and Kyle took Gideon and Ephraim and immediately headed for the zip line while the rest of us started to go in three different directions with Levi, Anna and Simeon. It's pretty amazing how determined two and four year olds can be once they see something they want to do. Let's just say it was a true hands-on experience for Poppy, Grammy and Uncle Connor.

Levi found a mountain of hay bales and scampered up to the top with ease, while Anna and Simeon initially needed a boost. Anna likes to follow Levi, trusting in her big brother, but if he's not around, Simeon takes over as the leader. Levi chose to get in line for the huge slide made of a very long water pipe (PVC) suspended from the top story of the barn. I was surprised that he would take such a risk all by himself, but he insisted. So, anxious Grammy watched him climb the stairs all by himself, and turned around to see Simeon disappear into the dark maze built under the haybales with Anna right behind. Aaah! Watch Levi, grab babies, watch Levi, call for help, watch Levi, Mark's at the end of the slide ready to get a picture of Levi, Simeon's gone  - Connor  - help! Watch Levi, Connor goes after Simeon, Anna wants out, Levi's in the slide, Anna wants in. Connor holds nervous Anna's little hand and spots Simeon happily working his independent way through the maze, down comes beaming Levi, where in the heck are the little kids? Out they pop with with Uncle Connor who looks at Grammy with revenge in his eyes - how could you send me in there with BOTH of them? Sheepish Grammy....

We regroup and Connor wants to try the apple cannon, so he and Mark go off that way. What???? Alone!! Levi desperately wants to try the yellow jumping pillow, so we get in line for that, sort of. Simeon is adventurous, have I mentioned that? Anna is pretty much glued to my leg, thank goodness, but Simeon's a whole different story. We wait and we wait and we wait, and I chase and I grab and even Levi can't keep up with Simeon... I give up on the line and call Poppy Mark - where ARE you? I can't do this by myself! We head over to the jumping house which is set up in a greenhouse. Wait in that line for a while and then finally get to enter, and thankfully, meet up with Gideon and Ephraim.

There should be signs outside of jumping houses. No one under the age of four allowed, or under at least three feet tall. Chubby two year olds struggle to climb the first obstacle and are pushed from behind by struggling big brothers and pulled from above by kind older girls who see the dilemma with two two year olds who aren't quite sure if they are having fun or not. Well, the slide off the obstacle was great, but then there's another line to climb yet a higher obstacle. This isn't gonna work and it's about 85 degrees and getting hotter in the greenhouse. Poppy and Grammy are melting... and Anna doesn't have a ton of patience in lines. Hmmm.... Grammy finds a detour, removes reluctant two year olds from line and inserts them into the latter jumping room, where they begin to jump and squeal and laugh. Oh good, and the big boys have Levi with them and they climb and slide and jump along happily. Then Simeon decides to go under and through the other obstacles, so he's out of sight and Anna's still happily jumping where she was. Watch Anna, search for Simeon, watch Anna, search for Simeon - oh, there he is! Where'd Anna go? Crawling under the obstacle, she gets stuck. She is smack in the middle of the jumping room and just barely out of reach... but Simeon bounces next to her which releases the pressure and she can get out. Sigh.... back and forth they go, and so does Grammy who is suffering from the extreme heat of the greenhouse and exertions of dashing back and forth after the little ones. We had such fun in the jumping house!

More to follow. I gotta go to work. To rest.....