Moonlight Maize

We tried a new corn maze today, or rather tonight!  You can see Madison and Mommy above, holding lanterns and flashlights as they try to find their way through the darkened twists and turns of the maze.  It was something we'd been wanting to try, and the weather was just right to head out tonight, crisp and cool.  We went to a place called Warbington Farms, which Madison has been to some time ago as a part of a field trip.  This place is less than ten minutes from our house, and so close you can hear the cows from our house.  At least I think it's their cows.  But all this time we haven't been there yet, until tonight!

This is Madison going through the corn maze, and at night, all corn mazes probably look just alike.  It was neat watching from a distance, seeing all the flashlights and lanterns carried amongst the paths throughout the corn maze.  We joined the maze runners, although we weren't exactly running.  And we were glad that they give you a little map beforehand.  Some would say that was cheating to consult the map, but I get lost enough in a corn maze during the daytime.  Besides, it's still a lot of fun - the point is getting deep into this labyrinth of corn stalks, running into fellow maze runners and of course that happy moment when you escape to freedom!

Here's Madison looking a little creepy.  We took a lantern along with us, as well as a pretty strong flashlight, the kind you see in "Night at the Museum."  We brought it along to walk along the field, although there was just enough light out there to find your way.

When we first arrived, the thing we did immediately was hop on a hay ride.  Although this hay ride didn't have hay.  Neither did the hay ride in Ellijay.  What's up with that?  It's still fun, of course.  It's a big trailer with seating in it, one dragged along by a large tractor.  In this case, we rode in the dark down a hill for a bit to a pasture where people spotted cows left or right.  The cage we were in made me think of Jurassic Park or something, where we were kept in this caged trailer for our own protection from the creatures that are... out there.  But it was just cows.

The only light from the trailer was coming from various flashlights being held by the riders, and we were all pointing out into the darkness, and oh, look!  There's one!  Lurking... over there on the rise... it's... it's... a cow!

Here's Madison, happily feeding the cows.  The participants are each given some bread, and we all had a chance to feed the cows.  This is one of those things I love about farms that have visitors - they get the participants to do all the work for them, and the participants even pay to do it!

But seriously, it was fun.  It's all how you look at things.  We don't do this for a living, so feeding a cow is somewhat of novelty, particularly at 8:30 pm from within a caged trailer.

We rode back to the main area after this, and there were other things to do, such as the large inflatable trampoline built into the ground, and a petting zoo area that had roughly twenty-something sleeping goats.  We bought food ahead of time, but it was late at night, and believe it or not, goats sleep at night.  That being said, we still have the food we bought here at home.  Perhaps we'll come back later so we can use the food we bought to feed new goats.  Or we can bring it with us when we go to Tennessee soon... there's a Goats on the Roof place we can stop by on the way back!

Anyway, we left soon after that, but it was a nice time outside tonight.  The weather was just right, crisp and cool, and the crescent moon hung low in the starry sky overhead.  There were sounds of kids running here and there, squeals as they went through the maze or jumped on the trampoline, and just a fun atmosphere.  There were s'mores and fires, and fun spooky songs playing like "Grim Grinning Ghosts" and so on.  It was fun!

We got home and read another chapter in "The End," getting one step closer to "The End."  We'll be there pretty soon, actually, ending the long season of unfortunate events we've been enduring thus far.

Earlier today, it was a more of a work day for us, setting up for things tomorrow.  We did quite a bit, from writing to shopping for various shirts and costuming for characters in the Sunday service.  Along the way, we found a few items for ourselves, including a box of these bad boys:

It's Halloween Crunch!  Now we've got four boxes of Halloween cereal in the house.  Yes, those other boxes were "family size," and we're still working through them.  We've had quite a bit of cereal lately!

Anyway, there was some piano for Madison and a late morning for all of us, sleeping in quite a bit.  We woke up late, and after tea and a discussion of the day's plans, we had a nice breakfast served in a skillet, yet another masterpiece from Mommy.

We had a great day today.  The weather was perfect outside, finally feeling like fall, and just so refreshing to walk out into.  It puts an automatic smile on your face, this seasonal weather, and its just so pleasant outside.  Welcome to fall, finally!