Harvest Time at Lone Pine Farms

Sometimes the images I put on my blog report the full story.  It really is as fun as the pictures make it look.   Today, however, was not one of those days.  Almost everyone was in "one of their moods".  Brayden was in full-on exasperation mode - I literally wanted to throttle him.  Mikayla was inpatient and irritable with Brayden.  When Michele arrived with her kids, we found Traig to be in his "authority mode".  By the conclusion of our visit, Nati was pushed to her "bite back" mode, and Ellie was pulling the youngest child card.  Michele and I were both fed up (and irritable ourselves).  Fortunately, Whitley was really rather agreeable - while she wasn't thrilled getting strapped into the backpack, once she was in it, I think she found herself pleasantly surprised with the constant attention, birds-eye view, and exciting ride.

We anticipated Lone Pine Farms to be crazy busy on this State-wide Inservice Day.  Fortunately, we pulled in before most of the crowds had arrived.

After purchasing tickets for the corn maze and the tractor train to get our pumpkins, we took some pics while waiting for the ride to start.

Even in this pic, Brayden is leaning out of his "head slot" to give Mikayla a piece of his mind telling her she doesn't belong in this pose. Grrr.....

That-a-way Whitley, suck on your binkie and stay mellow. 

On the tractor train - Nati was not happy that it wasn't the horse-drawn ride.

I decided I'm not a fan of the sunflowers in the midst of the pumpkin patch.  They look out of place and ominous.

Because we were following behind a horse-drawn ride, our tractor was pulling the hay wagon very, very slow.  So, Brayden found it amusing to continuously hop on and off the wagon.  I wasn't happy with him at all - he'd been pushing it with me all day and this was another instance.  

But then, Whitley started giggling hilariously at his antics and it made it somewhat okay.  I will add the video Michele took at the end of this post - it is priceless. 

Prior to this pic, I was literally saying, "Brayden, get over here and I'm going to act like I love you" (which, of course I do...but "like" is sometimes a variable....)

My little otter did find a good pumpkin though.

And I found a beautiful "Cinderella" pumpkin.

 
A few more pics on the ride back.

Off to the corn maze.   Brayden had done this maze in its nighttime "haunted version" last weekend, so he and Traig were confident they'd find their way swiftly enough on their own.  Right after this pic, the girls also broke off. 

Michele and I (and Whitley) were all smiles to get a little bit of time to just relax a bit as we traversed in peace through the corn maze.

Michele and I switched off in carrying Whitley about halfway through the maze.  Both of us were mindful of keeping her weight off of our shoulders and more on our hips (hence the awkward strap location on my bicep).

A little selfie in the neon tunnel.

A parting shot of the "ghost town" look in front of the maze.

As we pulled away from Lone Pine, I think we agreed we'll be going someplace else next year - a little bit too expensive and too much "forced fun" at this place.  But, everyone's moods had thankfully improved.  By three, Michele and I hopped in the car with our boys to drop them off at the church to head off to Antelope, Oregon - where they'll spend the weekend at YoungLife's Washington Family Ranch for a Discipleship Retreat.  They're happy they are going, we are happy they are going.  =)  As for the rest of the Rileys, we headed up last night to the Schillings house as we'll be attending the wedding of some of our former collegiate pals Saturday night in Portland.  We wanted to be closer to the wedding so it wouldn't be as far to return "home" after the late start of it, but also, so we could finish watching the 1pm Duck game before departing....you know, priorities.  =)

Now, about that adorable video-