You Build It .. They Will Come

Today's little tidbit is how many varieties of pumpkins there are.  Too many for me to name them all.  Technically, all these pictures are gourds of the decorating variety.  As you enter the property, there are eight (maybe nine) huge bins full of these little cuties. 

Not small bins, but big boxes, 4' x 4' x 3' tall.  Need something warty for your dinner table?  We have it.

There are so many varieties at the Pumpkin Patch, it's hard to pick.  The best part is they last on your mantle or dinner table until Thanksgiving.

The good news is we are not that busy in the first two weeks of October.  We have lines set up kind of like Disneyland and are experts at keeping them moving.  That's a good thing, since if it could go wrong yesterday, it did!!

Right off the bat, three kids didn't show up.  That puts a crimp in things because I have to play musical chairs to get the main attractions going.  It was another epic morning of training.  As you can imagine with 16 year olds, some get it and some don't.  They are all very willing thank goodness, and try their best.  Some are just more talented than others.  And of course then there's the problem of a 16 year old telling the adult visitors they can't do that!!

There are signs everywhere that sandals and flip flops are not allowed on the slide.  When the kids get turned down, the parent comes unglued, maybe more so that a kid is telling them NO.  We've seen some epic displays of crazy already!!

Here's the wreath I picked up at the craft market for my front door.  The best part is I now know how to make them myself for a fraction of the price!!!!!

And this cool sign ... I couldn't resist.  Unfortunately it wasn't until I got home that I realized the sign is pointing the wrong direction.  Actually .... that may be even better!!  Hee hee hee!

The day's walk turned out to be 9.74 miles (oh my aching feet) and 19 stories climbed.  That's because the slide is something like 50 feet tall and I had to climb it that many times.  My calves are screaming at me as I type.  From the top, the view is amazing.  

This is the new professional ballfield.  You build it ....... you know the rest.  Last year when the County refused to let any of the kids play little league (or any kind of baseball), the Hunter Family built this ballfield so the kids would have a place to go.  Since it's on private property, no one could stop them.  All summer long, little league and high school baseball flourished.

Yesterday as I spent quite some time at the top, I watched the local high school kids play their championship game.  Boy can those kids play!!!

The other view is this ... the calm before the storm of visitors.  Thank goodness the steps coming up are small in height for little kids.  My first two trips were to try and find the wasps that were flying about.  Then to train two kids, then to spray the slide to make it slippery, then to bring down some kids who panicked at the top.  It never ended all day.

Thank goodness for a few moments of quiet (with the roar of a tractor engine) while giving breaks to the drivers.  In the meantime, the snack bar ran out of stuff to sell the first day.  Since they were open until 7:00 at night, they didn't get a refill for yesterday.  

It's definitely still a work in progress which I'm happy to say I don't have to take care of.  YAY!!!  Eventually they got the doors open with tri-tip sandwiches while I lounged in the goat pen petting the latest group of babies. 

It was a crazy long day of problem solving and working out the kinks.  Thank goodness they are only open for pumpkin sales for the next two days.  By the end of the eleventh hour, my body was fine but my feet were screaming bloody murder!!  

Today I'm going in just to be sure the day girls are set up, then hopefully I'm back home until it's time for the Magic Kingdom tomorrow.  I imagine you'll find me on the couch!!!

Total miles walked so far:   26.95   Yikes ... that's a marathon!!!