Our First Corn Maze

     Mc and I talked about possibly going to a haunted house this year with the kids.  There's one not too far from our house, but they only have one Family Night coming up-- fun activities, "low scare" environment with lights on, etc.-- but that was this coming Sunday.  So rather than doing that or risking something else where the kids might get scared, I looked up corn mazes in the area.  Neither the kids nor I had been to one before, and I found one that looked like it'd be a lot of fun.  It's called Bob's Corn & Pumpkin Farm, and it was indeed a fun experience.

     They had little maps with the farm on one side and the corn maze on the other.  Here's the farm:

My camera doesn't capture landscapes very well, but it's a large farm and it was a cool, still, peaceful morning.  We're waiting in line for the hayride.

This is the line for the hayride that brought us to the pumpkin patch and the corn maze down the road.  The hayride is fun but also necessary because the maze and pumpkin patch are across a road that cars regularly use, so traffic needs to be stopped while the hayride crosses.  Having pedestrians crossing whenever they want would impede traffic too much.

Us at the beginning of the corn maze.  There's also one for kids, but we chose to do the big one instead.  It takes ~45 minutes to complete the whole thing (if you follow the map correctly).

This is the other side of the map: the maze.  The entrance and exit are in the top right corner.

It started to sprinkle while we were in there.  Luckily not too long after that we reached the halfway point-- which is in the lower left corner of the map-- and there was a fire pit area with covered picnic benches where we waited out the rain, which was only for about 10 minutes.

We found Bob!  A few times Baby Girl asked where Bob would be and if we'd see him, and I said I wasn't sure.  But he was one of the men driving the tractors for the hayride, and he was our ride back!  Baby Girl was excited to meet him, and he was very nice and was happy to take a picture with the kids.

Us in front of our hayride.

A little playground near the entrance.

They have a Country Store where they sell a variety of canned food from their farm.  I bought a lot.  It's about 2-3 times as expensive as what you'd get in a grocery store, but I would rather pay a little extra if it's good quality and if it directly supports a farm like this.  Plus this stuff looks delicious.

      We'll be going back next year.  Their Country Store is open from August through October, and the fun activities are open from the end of September through October.  It's definitely more crowded later in the season, so next year we'll probably do this for Baby Girl's birthday, which is near the beginning of October.  It shouldn't be as crowded then, and both kids will be a year older and so we'll be able to stay there longer.  And if I like their syrup and jams and salsas enough, then I might even come back next August to buy from their store again.  Overall, a very fun day.  :)

Baby Girl's 5th Birthday

     My Baby Girl turned 5 years old yesterday!  My parents and one of my sisters flew up here for her birthday, and Baby Girl had a wonderful time.

(Lots of pictures)

My sister came into town on Wednesday, and the day she got here they made a fort.

Lots of fun.  :)  Wow, Baby Girl really needed her bangs trimmed.  I did it later that night, but now I can see just how long they'd gotten, haha.  ;)

My parents got here Friday night, and the kids were happy to see them.

Enjoying pomegranate seeds (with trimmed bangs).

Mc and I decided to take everyone to the children's museum for her birthday activity.  It's been months since we've been there, mostly because whenever we took the kids there last year the kids always got sick.  But Baby Girl is homeschooled now, so if she gets sick she'll be home anyway and I can take care of her.  We made sure to rub their hands with Purell before we went into the playing area and again right before we left, and that seems to have helped; everyone is healthy today.

This is the air blowing machine.

The front end of a bus.

This is my favorite part of the children's museum: the rooftop playground.  It's quieter than inside and the fresh air is wonderful.

This is the excavation site.  Stego says hi.

Mc provided us with some ambient music.  It was nice.  :)

Digging didn't go so well because she doesn't have good balance, but she still liked it.  It's great for practicing coordination.

Huge checkers board.  She helped put the pieces in place but then she wasn't interested much in playing; maybe when she's older.

The front of an airplane.  She waited patiently for her turn.

This is by far our kids' favorite area: the water area.  They spent the whole last hour in here.

This pump is cool.  You pump the water into the big tube, pull the chain, and the water shoots up into that smaller tube with the colorful balls and the balls go flying out of the top.  The pumping is hard to do but Baby Girl and that little girl pulled the chain together.

Mc and Little One like this area.  Mc had a pretty intricate pipeline system going there.

 Birthday dinner was at Red Robin.  This is me and Baby Girl while we waited for our table.

Unlike last year, I remembered my camera this time, so I got pictures of this moment!  The whole dinner she was looking forward to her ice cream sunday, but she loved the singing part the best.

Deliciousness.

Birthday presents and cards!

This year Baby Girl didn't want a pumpkin pie-- she wanted a cherry cake with chocolate frosting.  So I altered cake and frosting recipes that my father gave me years ago.  The cake turned out well, but I see what I could have done to make the frosting more cholocatey.  Next time I'll do better.  Still tasted good.

(btw, Mc is gently holding Little One back because he blew out two of the candles as soon as I placed the cake on the table.  We had to relight them and then hold him back so Baby Girl could do it).

Reading cards.  Nana and Pappy sent her a card as well, and it made her happy.  :)  Thank you.  :)

Presents!  Little One was happy about this one because we already have one jump rope, and now we have another one so they each can jump at the same time.  We gave him a few presents as well so he wouldn't feel left out (and so we wouldn't have to constantly tell him not to open hers).

She was loud and excited as she opened up her presents, but when she saw what this one was, she was very gentle as she whispered, "Oh, it's my Number 5 Girl!"

My family.

Felt tic-tac-toe games from my sister.  The kids love them!

Our kids play well together.

Here are her girls so far.

I'm going to paint their hair dark brown so they'll look more like Baby Girl.  ;)

This afternoon after they all got back from church, Baby Girl wanted to do the watercolor painting that I got her for her birthday.  She loves coloring and paining and drawing, so I want to give her many opportunities to do so.

Here's one of the ten or so pictures she's painted today.

     I love my Baby Girl.  She's sweet, she's caring, she's outgoing and friendly, she's very smart and has an excellent memory, and she's creative.  She had a wonderful time on her birthday and we're all glad that my parents and sister were able to fly up here for it.  I think this will be a good year.  Happy Birthday, my sweet Baby Girl!

He's Back!

     Obsidian came back last night!

     Around 10:15 p.m. as soon as I finished my previous blog post, I got dressed again and headed back outside to look for him.  It was dark and quiet, so my rustling the food bag was easily heard around the neighborhood.  I went up and down our street, then up and down the long street south of us and all of its cul-de-sacs and side streets, and then past our street to the one north of us and all the way to the elementary school down that road.  I had gotten the attention of four cats and a couple of dogs along the way, but not Obsidian.  I got back to our house around 1:00 a.m. and there was Obsidian, sitting on our front porch!  It took a little bit of persuasion, but he came back inside the house and he seemed happy to be back.  He purred almost constantly and rubbed up against Mc and me, he ate and drank a lot, and he came onto our bed at one point and kneeded my chest (ouch) and slept.

     I'm so happy he came back, and he has no injuries.  He hasn't been scratching himself or biting himself, so he didn't pick up any fleas.  I'm going to keep an eye on him to make sure his appetite is normal and I'll take him to the vet if it looks like he's not feeling well.  For now though, he looks great.

     I got so little sleep last night, I feel like falling over.  I might take a nap since Mc is working from home today, but I'm going shopping at Home Depot later this morning to get even more wood for shelving and catwalks.  I'm still going to look for picture books of cat body language (or maybe create one of my own from images on the internet) so that I can teach Little One using a method he understands best and maybe he'll learn.  But in the meantime: cat perches!

     Oh yeah, and Mc and I both had the same idea as I was walking around the neighborhoods last night: I'm going to buy a cat harness so we can take Obsidian into the backyard.  That way he can become very familiar with his outside territory, and so if he ever gets out again, then he'll be very familiar with his surroundings.  But with the harness he'll be confined to our back yard and under my supervision so he won't be able to wander and get lost or attacked or hit by a car or taken by someone who's cruel to animals.

Obsidian Ran Away

     I'm very sad tonight.  Obsidian ran out the front door as soon as Mc got home, and he took off around the corner and into our backyard, and we didn't see where he went from there, but he's gone.

     This afternoon right before Mc got home, Obsidian has jumped up on the window sill in the living room behind the couch while the kids and I were watching TV.  Little One jumped up and ran behind the couch and pushed down on Obsidian's body to make him crouch down on the sill like he's seen him do on his own before.  I yelled at Little One to stop, and he did, but the cat ran up the stairs and I saw the look on his face and in his body language: he was scared of Little One, and he saw him as a predator because his body language said he felt like prey.  I should've picked up Obsidian right then and put him safely in our room, but instead I pet him and tried to calm him down.  I fed him some food in the kitchen and he began to eat, so I went back into the living room to keep Little One there and away from Obsidian.  But apparently Obsidian was still shaken up, because as soon as he heard Mc unlocking the front door he ran to it, and as soon as the door was open he bolted out into the yard.

     I spent the next hour walking around the neighborhood looking for him, but there was heavy cloud cover and it was starting to rain, and slowly it got too dark to see anything.  Mc is working from home tomorrow so I can go back out and look for Obsidian in the morning.

     I blame myself.  I should've yelled at Mc not to open the door, but I didn't think Obsidian was going to rush out like that.  I should've jumped up off the couch despite my hurt back and kept him from going out.  Or I should've just put him in our room where he would have been safe from Little One and he could calm down a bit.

     I also feel like I let Obsidian down.  I put up the shelves for him downstairs so he can get up to the window he likes and so he could get up on the high bookshelf, but I haven't put up the shelves upstairs yet because the idea I had for the cat loft seems too daunting.  But it's the living room upstairs where he would be the safest from Little One, and I hate myself for not having done something for him up there yet.

     Little One still doesn't understand cat body language or when to leave the cat alone, and he doesn't listen when I tell him not to touch the cat.  I know he understands, he's just refusing to obey.  Just yesterday I was looking for books that illustrate cat body language so I could buy it and show Little One with pictures what different postures mean and when it's okay to pet the cat and when you need to walk away.  Unfortunately, in my brief search I couldn't find anything that would do, and I was going to look harder and longer tonight (but now I get to spend my time looking longer and harder for my cat).  I'm estimating that it'll take about another year before Little One understands and has the discipline to leave the cat alone despite his excitement to see it.

     Lots of cats are indoor/outdoor cats, and there's a good chance Obsidian is okay and I'll be able to find him in the morning, or he might even find his way back on his own tonight once he gets hungry (we left food out for him).  But I'm worried that he'll get attacked by another animal or run over by a car before I can find him.

     I'm going to go out one more time tonight and look for him.  The traffic on the main road has died down now, so although I won't be able to see him because it's so dark outside and he's completely black, if I bring out his food dish and rustle the bag of dry cat food that he comes running for as soon as he hears it, he might hear it and come to me.  The kids are in bed and I've stopped crying but I'm still worried about him, so it's worth a try.

     And I'm going back to Home Depot tomorrow and buying more pieces of wood for more shelves, and I'm putting those up tomorrow!  I don't care how amateur it looks or if it's aesthetically pleasing; this is about Obsidian's safety now and about him feeling comfortable in our home.  If Obsidian does come back, I want him to have a completely safe home with plenty of options to get away from Little One.