Long Hours Equal Happy Customers!!

Wow have I been putting in some long hours.  I just love interacting with the kids that come here on the buses.  It certainly would make things easier if they came on time and stuck to the schedule, but as you can imagine, it IS a bus load of kids.  The 8:45 group never showed up, the 9:00 group came at 10:00 as did the 9:30 group.

We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off.  With everyone so late, I had to jump on the Hay Ride tractor for most of the morning.  In a ten minute break in the action, I gave my Seed Planting Class to a group of disabled youngsters in wheelchairs.  It didn't go over so well.  I've never had so much respect for teachers who work with these kids.

So I finished in a flash and decided we would feed the goats instead.  They were a BIG hit!!  Everyone got to hold grain in their hands while the goats licked it up.  The kids were happy campers!!  Once they come out of the barn area, most all the classes stop here for a picture.

As the day wore on, it got even worse.  Although the kids finally found their way back to the buses and left, the second tractor driver forgot to read the schedule.  He left at noon instead of sticking around until 4:00.  That left me with TWO tractors to drive, running back and forth across the yard, along with giving lunch breaks to three kids.  

In the middle of all this, I'm always trying to teach the teenagers how to relate to the customers and not just stand there like a lump on a log.  Have fun ... talk to people ... be nice.  So far it's working pretty well.  I've heard MANY comments from the public about how nice the workers (14-17 year olds) are and how they've made it a much nice experience than some of the other pumpkin places they've been.  YAY!!

Those of you who wear Fitbits tracking your steps, mine were over 13,000 for this day.  Six miles to be exact.  I'm going to be back in marathon shape in no time!!

Here's another of the "kid" attractions.  In fact, it's one of the most popular, because what could be more fun than digging in the dirt?  There are dinosaur bones buried here for the kids to find, along with paintbrushes to be sure they don't damage anything.  Not really, these concrete bones aren't going anywhere and can't be damaged unless you have a big hammer.

I finally got off early enough to hit the Magic Kingdom of Bingo for a night of fighting and ugly looks.  One of our workers has become a problem, causing lots of discontent among the people of the village.  On the other hand, one passed out lovely chocolate chip cookies.  I passed ... no use tempting fate after my last cookie encounter!!

I'm off for a KID class (not the goat kind) again this morning with 73 seed planters coming to see me at 9:00.  Let's hope they are on time today!!!