Life is a Highway

One boring Thursday morning, Sam and I were looking for something to do. Since he wakes up uber early, mornings are long, even when we have a scheduled playdate at 9 AM. We've got  nearly four hours to fill between the time he awakens and the time we leave. (Why yes he does wake up at 5 AM every day. And no, we haven't been able to change that schedule since the day he was born.)

Sam loves playing cars more than just about anything else. Playing cars can include the cars talking to each other, fixing each other, smashing each other, and racing along the floor/wall/couch/whatever surface is handy. Playing cars usually involves crawling all over the house, something that I don't particularly like to do after about ten minutes. So in an attempt to keep Sam entertained while also sparing my knees a bit, I dug out two rolls of masking tape and did this to our floor: 

That's right! We made our own city! Pictured here is the Municipal Garage (far background); the lake, with boat; the Fire House (far right); the City Park, which is undergoing some renovations; and a small cul-de-sac for the cars' houses. In the video below you'll also see the Barn, aka Addie's Country House/Amish Market and then by the steps you will see a recently demolished version of Addie's City House. (More about Sam's passionate love for Addie in another post; suffice it to say that he will do anything for her. I don't know whether to think it's cute or to be scared.)

That road stayed on our floor for a good two weeks until it slowly started peeling off. Sam had a tremendous amount of fun with it and so did Jeff and I. My only regret is that one of my rolls of masking tape was VERY old and left it's sticky stuff on the floor. So now part of the road remains as a dark stain on the carpet. Good thing we're planning to replace it eventually!

I'd love to take credit for this idea and say it was all mine but in truth, I found a version of it on Pinterest. Ours was bigger and more elaborate but the original idea was someone else's. And if you haven't gotten on Pinterest, DO IT. Well, only do it if you have gobs of free time...otherwise you'll be losing some sleep looking at all the pretty pictures and good ideas.

(Please pardon the fact that my son is dressed only in a tee shirt and underwear. Potty training proceeds hence.)

Down on Leah's farm there are two yellow chickens...*

Well. I have not been a good blogger lately. This is what happens when you get an iPad. You (I) get lazy and spend your (my) time on the couch, simultaneously watching TV and catching up on Facebook, doing neither thing well or completely yet unable to turn off one device or the other. Every day I say "I'll blog tonight. I really have to get those pictures up." And every night I plop my butt on the couch and watch Psych or New Girl or some other TV show that eats up my time. It's a good thing I'm a more diligent runner than I am a blogger.

So, since I basically skipped over the whole month of October, I'm going to try to update you over the course of several posts. Let's hope my iPad runs out of charge so I can get it all done!

The first Wednesday of every month is Field Trip Day at Sam's preschool. Parents are required to go on these trips if they want their kids to attend and we are responsible for getting our children to the field trip location. In October, we visited a local farm. I was initially worried about this trip because every other farm we have visited has been fun for Sam only if we are picking pumpkins or if he is allowed to run around and explore on his own. We've had our family photos shot at a local farm for the past two years and every year Sam freaks out about going on the hayride. He will not go NEAR the tractor, no matter how cool he thinks it is. Knowing that this field trip was going to be based mainly around a hayride made me a little nervous. Lucky for us, though, Coleman's Farm uses smaller tractors to pull a series of three big wagons. That means that the noise is really reduced and we also got to sit further from it since we landed in the second wagon. Sam was initially hesitant but when he realized that the ride wasn't going to be loud, he relaxed immediately.

                                                   Sam and his sweet friend, Martyna.

It also helped that Sam was sitting next to one of his favorite classmates, Martyna. Martyna's family is from Poland and although her parents speak English very well, Martyna herself doesn't speak a word. That's fine by Sam; I don't think he really cares that they don't have much in common. Together they manage to communicate in their own way and it is precious to watch him try to take care of her.

Our first stop on the hayride was the aviary. Coleman's keeps all sorts of birds, from wild turkeys to peahens to a fancy sort of pheasant with an extremely long tail that looks almost exactly like an exotic parrot. We stayed up on the hay wagon and the farmer gave us ears of dried feed corn which the kids picked the kernels off of and fed to the birds.

We were near their pond, so a bunch of geese and ducks waddled over to get in on the feeding action.

They weren't too happy when we left; they followed the wagon, waddling as fast as they could, quacking for more corn. It was hilarious to watch their short little feet running as fast as they could while their fat duck bodies wobbled from side to side. Ducks are definitely more graceful in flight!

This is an old fire truck, gently submitting to the elements. Sam was fascinated by it. (I'm not sure why this picture is blurry.)

From the aviary, we rode around to the pumpkin/corn fields, where all the kids got to pick their own big pumpkin, 2 little gourds and six ears of corn. Sam really just wanted to run for a while since it had been probably fifteen minutes since he'd run anywhere. He did get a small pumpkin and I got him two gourds but he was done with picking by the time we got to the corn. Which was just as well since it was windy and chilly out there and I was holding my friend's baby while she chased her two daughters. Poor Lily did not like the wind!

At the end of the trip we circled back to the main entrance, where the kids had cookies and cider that came in these cute little plastic pumpkins. After that, the kids ran wild on all the play structures. Sam was in heaven; they must have had at least 10 big swing sets and forts, all shaped like houses or pirate boats. He was so sad when the trip was over and we had to go home.

Now, every time we go past any farm (happens quite a bit around here,) he asks "That the big farm? My picked pumpkins there! With Miss Tina! (His garbled version of Martyna's name.) We go there again?" I'm glad he had fun at the farm and we can't wait to visit again. Maybe next year we'll do our photos at Coleman's!


*The title is a reference to one of my favorite Signing Time songs, "Leah's Farm." I still remember most of the animal signs, especially horse and cow. If you get a chance, try to rent some Signing Time videos from your local library. They are amazing and I guarantee you they'll stick with you for a long time!