Another day in October found us at a dairy farm.  A local farm (meaning about 20 minutes away…that’s the closest dairy farm too), has started an agritourism business both to promote their farm but also so that they can eventually purchase a creamery and sell their own milk.  This is the second year for their Corn “Maize” and it was just as much fun as last year!  The kids had a blast as always.  This was a field trip day and the only set back was that they had the maze marked off so that it was just a simple walk through instead of an actual maze.  That was a bummer.  Other than that, we learned a lot more about dairy farming that I ever knew.  For instance, cows are milked just like we pump milk off our selves.  Except the machine is a bit more high powered!  I know everyone wanted to know that.

Here’s some more pictures before I embarrass myself any further.

Twas a bit nippy and I forgot to bring Bryant a coat.  So, we found one of Zoe’s jackets in the van and wrapped him up.  He was snug as a bug but very tired on the hayride.

Petting zoos are awesome.  Bryant called everything a “goggy” (doggy) but he loved watching the animals!

They had a wonderful play area that included a huge slide, a bunch of wooden structures (like a ship, castle, and the like), and a jumping pillow.  Five kids pretty much dispersed across the whole play area so it was hard for us to get pictures of everyone. 

September and some of October was spent frantically trying to get costumes made for five anxious children.  It wasn’t for Halloween, though.  Last year, we had attended a local living history park event called Colonial Times.  We left with a very anxious older daughter asking sweetly if she could have a colonial dress to wear next year.  And of course, if one wants one, they all do.

And I was happy to provide.  Although Mark and I were a little tired as we sewed (yes, we, Mark finally revealed his secret talent of sewing) buttons on to vests at 11:30 at night.

But the results and the smiles were so worth it!

Aren’t they adorable???  Ceili Rain put her dress on and said, “I a princess.”  She saw Zoe in her dress and made the same declaration.  Guess what?  They don’t make boys’ colonial costume patterns unless you want them to look like a mini version of an adult George Washington.  Which I didn’t!  So, I had to get creative.  The knickers are pants bought at Goodwill.  I cut them off and put elastic in the bottom to make them poof and look like short pants.  The shirts are Goodwill too.  I cut the folded over collar off and serged it.  The vests were a lucky find of a pattern of multiple vests.  I had some old looking buttons that we sewed on (Did I mention we did that at 11:30 at night?).

 The rat catcher.  He was trying to recruit new workers for himself.  The sweet little boy in the yellow shirt took him seriously.  He turned around, looked straight at me and in all seriousness announced, “I’m going to go look for rats.”  And took off while his mom was talking.  We quickly got her attention and she called him back and had to break his heart.  So sad.

M. LeFarceur de Villeverte, And if you can translate his name, you’ll get a good giggle.  This guy has actually won awards for his lace making.  But he’s not a lacemaker.  He’s a lace merchant!  Lacemakers are all the poor people…like us.  He was quite the entertainment and after Ceili Rain stopped freaking out over his make up, she enjoyed him too.

There’s a group in our area that does English Martial Arts.  That includes fencing and other things.  They were there and this year, they let the kids hold their swords.  Can you see the look of utter excitement spread across Liam’s face?  Ceili Rain thought it was cool, although she couldn’t hold it up by herself!

Mark and the kids really enjoyed the blacksmith this year.  They stayed there while Bryant and I got a bit of drink.  They saw him make a nail.  That’s all I know about that.

I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I posted pictures.  So here’s enough to make your eyeballs bleed.  These are from the first of the month after the kids spent a week with Papa & Grandmere and had a blast!