Field Trips

We've taken a few field trips in the past week, one just to give Rob time to get work done. I took pictures but I'll be posting them on Facebook. I have to wait a very long time for them to load and I'm only doing it in one place. :)

Last Saturday I took the children to Eberts Greenhouse for their Fall Festival. We saved a little money so that they could participate in the attractions that cost something. Last year they just had fun in the kids area but I knew there would be a few things Matthew would want to do and I really hate saying no. So, I bundled them up and we went. Turned out that the weather was beautiful and they didn't need to be so warm. Good thing too, because I forgot Anna's blanket at home :) The first thing they saw was a large, inflatible slide. When we went last year, it was too windy for the inflatible things. Well, as we entered, an employee informed us that due to the rain the previous evening, the inflatibles were not open until they were dried off. At least we had the promise they would open, so we went and bought some tickets. I'm always amazed at how costly things can be for two children. Ben's old enough to do most things Matthew can, so paying for two kids adds up! Anna can just take her time growing, as far as I'm concerned.

Since the inflatibles were still wet (as well as the corn maze and path for the hay ride) we went to the Kid's Village and they played in the three little houses for children. There is a cottage, a barn, and a schoolhouse. They bounced from one to the other, as well as the wet sandbox, and had a ball. They weren't too interested in the animals this year, which is fine, because they don't excite me either :) After letting them play for a long time, we did the boring Mom thing and I made them see the rest of the place. Eberts has pumpkin and straw people all over in the shapes of storybook characters and I thought the kids would like to see them . I was apparently the only parent forcing their children to do this so we had the walk to ourselves :) We did do the fishing pond (Matthew caught a squirt gun and Ben caught Spiderman sidewalk chalk) and picked up pumpkins (like picking up ducks only with mini pumpkins.) When we finished our walk we ended back up in the inflatibles part and they were open.

Okay, the inflatible slide gets its own paragraph. It's really tall and I knew Matthew could handle it and that there was no stopping Ben if Matthew was going, so I sent them up shoeless and with tickets. They had a blast, although Ben struggled to get up the ladder. The preteen running the thing barely looked at the children and only after a mom asked did he say that the kids could go three times. My boys could have stayed there all day long without him knowing! I know that because they still had their tickets when they were done (Matthew went four times and Ben two, so it balanced out) and when Matthew tried to hand the boy his tickets, he told Matthew to take his shoes off if he wanted to go. I told the boy that Matthew had already went, that he hadn't collected tickects, and that he might want to pay attention to the kids on the slide! Good grief! Glad we parents were there supervising! That's the first time we've been on a poorly-supervised inflatible thingy and we've done lots of them!

We then we back to play in the kid's village and then chose our pumpkins and cookies. We went home afterwards and the kids were pretty happy with the visit.

Yesterday, we went to Maranatha for a dramatic play workshop hosted by Ben's Sunday School teacher's early education class. Last year, the boys had fun. This year it was terrifying for them. We were among the last ones there, so it was pretty noisy when we arrived. Two college girls approached the boys, asking if they wanted to pick out costumes and be read to. The boys panicked; Matthew clinging to me and Ben crying. I tried to get them to pick a costume (Anna was an adorable lady bug) but they refused and would not leave my side, even when Ben's teacher approached them. They wouldn't do circle time and sat on my lap through most of the program. They are pretty intimidated in new situations so it wasn't too surprising. I know we'll be invited next year b/c Ben will be in the same class, but I'm not sure if we'll go. Crazy kids!

And last night was the Fall Festival and 40th anniversary celebration at Maranatha (it's a concert...the title is misleading) and Rob and I attended. The kids went to Kiddie Kampus, which is the pre-school/daycare run by MBBC. Anna and Matthew had a blast but Ben was pretty intimidated. He just doesn't like new situations. When we left, he and Matthew were together, but they took the older children out later, so Ben was by himself. I wish I would have left instructions that Ben was to stay with Matthew, but he seems to be okay this morning, so he wasn't scarred for life.

The concert, by the way, was amazing. It deserves it's own post. I did not realize how much God directed the founding of this college. I'll have to post it later because breakfast is ready and we're cleaning the house today from top to bottom :)