Ziplines, Mazes, and Corn Pits

Inspired by a Facebook advertisement that I found - and then a subsequent word-of-mouth recommendation of the same place to Michele, we decided to try a whole new venue for our annual harvest-time adventures. We were super impressed with the locale - the only thing we'd probably change is the weather for the day - but even that was just fine as the rain held off until we got in the cars to leave.

Today was a no-school day for all 5 of our kiddos - (thank you state of Oregon education budget cuts....). Tomorrow is also a day off - lucky them, huh? (As I look at this picture it actually looks like Mikayla is being affectionate towards her brother, I should blow it up and put in on the fridge so they can be reminded of the right way to treat each other!)

This place had a little bit of everything: a big hay bale slide,


a very cool zipline (I appreciated the swing seat on the bottom.....),



a nice bounty of pumpkins (though I missed the "Cinderella" pumpkins that were found in the pumpkin farm last year...),


and a gigantic corn maze.
This is what it looked like on the "Cheater's Map" (that cost an extra $.50......but, as you'll find out momentarily, was very much worth it).
Because this is the view from a plane flying overhead (obtained from this company's blog) - without a little map, one might get themselves a little lost........

or two, in our case - the boys - who took off on their own without a map. They did have a cell phone though, and not long after we entered the maze did I get a text that said "we're lost ;( " and a few minutes later, a phone call. We ended up yelling for them, and they finally found us. In this picture, Brayden is bringing back Ellie who had gone around the corner to "find the boys".

On rare occasions, Traig can be slightly a "know it all" - so I had to snap this picture of him actually being confused as he didn't exactly know where he was and how he'd gotten lost.

Once the boys joined us, we let them take over the navigation (once they had the map, we trusted them) - so we took our time and let Mikayla take a picture of us.

Once we made it through the maze (3 hours later...nah, just kiddin') - we played a little bit longer at the other attractions.....this one was the duck race, where Traig totally kicked his mom's butt.


Then on to the tractor ride.....



And, then on to the "corn pit". What's especially sweet about this picture to us is that this picture mirrors one that we took of the boys when they were about 3 and 4 years old - playing with styrofoam peanuts. Curse the "bda" (before digital age) of photography that prevents me from easily accessing that photo and showing you all......

(for the record....Brayden's getting a haircut on Thursday....it'll still be surfer-long style, but a little bit less of the mop it is right now)

The girls got in on the act too....

Ahhh, look how big our little boys are getting.....they're growing up so fast.....(truthfully, seeing the boys still playing so carefree like this absolutely warms our hearts!)


A fantastic day, made even more fun for me by the viewing of "Rudy" in the car on the way up and back. (The farm was east of Salem, so it was about an hour's drive for us). I confess that while the kids took the tractor ride, I actually snuck into the back seat of our van and watched the last 20 minutes by myself. (I had been listening to the whole movie while driving, and having seen it before, knew it was worth it to actually see the ending). That movie is SO GOOD.....and I hope it only inspires Brayden more.

Michele and the kids ended up returning back to our house - as tomorrow Michele and I will be driving down to Medford to reunite with our former Western Oregon/Campus Crusade girlfriends. It makes for an even better day for all of us when we have an adventure together and know we don't have to part ways quite yet.