Lil' Pumpkin

Today is Mad Hatter Day, and what a day it was! The weather outside was too beautiful to pass up, so we scrambled to get some of our regular chores out of the way - and made a trip back to Burt's Pumpkin Farm!

Of course, we had to get a whole lot of chores out of the way first. One of which being the inspection of both cars, as we need to get new licenses in a new county. So Daddy actually made three trips back and forth before we finally got to get out the door for our big trip!

But before we got to leave... the mailbox had a letter from the IRS inside. Would it be what we've been waiting for since APRIL? Would it be our refund? It's a been a monthly ritual where we get a letter that says something to the effect of "we're sorry, but we're working on it." That sort of thing. Basically, letter #1 in May asked us to send some proof that we actually spent money on Madison's adoption. This is in essence an insult to anyone who has actually adopted internationally. Seriously, do we need to go down this road? Of course it costs a lot of money. And much of that cost is from our government, and all the bureaucracies and fees that it is capable of. They are basically asking us to prove that they sent money to them, and of course all the other fees along the way. Which we did send them - back in May.

So, here we are in October, waiting as once a month we get a letter that says, "Sorry, but we're still backlogged. Maybe next time." Suddenly, we're in the tax refund lottery system.

One could insert theories about how the government actually doesn't have the money to pay us back, which may be theoretically true. Or one could complain about how they charge us interest when we don't pay in time, and therefore we should have that right to charge them back. Yet theories and conversations don't actually matter here, because we are not reasoning with human beings, but rather our current government system.

It is a lot of money that we've been counting on, sort of like Clark Griswold was counting on his Christmas bonus. Which makes me think - hey, maybe we'll get it by Christmas?

This is the kind of efficient government we have, which leads perfectly to our next topic of conversation: Mad Hatter Day. That's today. Of course, with our government of late, every day is Mad Hatter Day. But for the rest of us, it's a chance to be silly too. Like wear a big hat, drink tea and watch Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" for the umpteenth time. Which we did: except the big hat part. The recent movie is a little too much for Madison, so before bedtime, Daddy opted for actually reading it to her tonight - no, not the entire Lewis Carroll version. It was a much shorter version, which was fun to read with pictures. Madison still enjoys the story, and still has Alice next to her in bed.

She went to sleep easy, because as noted earlier: it was a full day. It wasn't quite a Mad day, but we certainly did run around like mad. As mentioned previously, we did make our annual trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm. This is always a splendid occasion! Mommy packed a picnic lunch for us to eat once we arrived, and as is our tradition, we sat at a picnic table there beside a running creek just across the covered bridge. We could see all the pumpkins from there, a field of bright orange - and a little more green this year than usual.

Afterwards, we found ourselves amongst the pumpkins. Mommy took to the camera this year, snapping photos of Madison running throughout the sea of orange, occasionally dropping down to hide so that she could pop out and surprise us!

It was such a beautiful day. I know I said that before, but it needs to be repeated. The weather was ideal, and we had a wonderful time. Madison chose a few gourds from their massive selection - some very unusual shapes and colors. Mommy had the great idea that we could use some of these for show and tell tomorrow. After that, it was time to get serious about our pumpkins!

Madison selected her pumpkin after a thorough search. Scanning the orange horizon, she spotted the perfect choice, and hefted it up in the air proudly. Yes, that would be a good one! Daddy searched next, and found himself an ideal pumpkin. This year it took a little longer - I don't know if that is because of the crop, or because Daddy is getting more picky about his selection. Regardless, he found one that had just the right characteristics he needed: this year's carving will be a great success!

Having harvested our pumpkins, we next embarked upon the annual hay ride! This Madison loves, mainly because she gets to make a big nest out of the hay and pretend she's a bird. She would love to throw the hay at everyone, but Mommy and Daddy keep reminding her not to do that. Instead, she opts to cover people with hay - even complete strangers:

It's a very pleasant ride through the pumpkin patch, and surrounding country side. Probably the best hay ride that I know of. We do it once a year, and Madison always has a good time. We do too!

Finally, the hay ride done, it's time to go home. But not for long, for we have ballet practice to attend as well! Like I said, it was a pretty full day. Madison is very much enjoying her dance classes - you can hear her down the hall with the others, all giggling frequently. This is a much smaller class with Ms. Jenny - this season - so it is a more intimate class. Madison is having such a good time.

As you can imagine, we got home nearly in time for bed. With school tomorrow, we settled down for a story and watched as Madison went to sleep rather quickly.

Then, it was time to put on our large hats and go watch a movie!

"There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter. Which luckily I am." - The Mad Hatter