The A-Maizing Corn Maze!

Every year we like to take the kids to some sort of fall festival/ pumpkin patch type thing. This year we tried a Maize maze and it was totally awesome! We've done corn mazes before and have always loved them but this was our kids first time. Plus we went at night which I highly recommend. 

We brought along Lillie's BFF Abby who was spending the night:

Getting ready to go down the drain pipe slides:

They had hay bale races and the kids got really into it. Surprisingly they kept it a friendly competition:

The Corn Popper:

I have zero idea what this was. I have never seen anything like it.

 But it was completely and totally awesome.

Disclaimer: these pictures totally stink

Waiting in line for the corn popper:

 Corn Popping!

 This thing was like a moon bounce/trampoline. It was this fairly taught bouncy thing that was blown up by air the way a moon bounce was but it was buried in the ground and had no walls. There were a ton of kids on it and even the adults got on. It was crazy fun!

Spookley!

 Fun Farm Facts:

Givin' us the low down on Maize Maze do's and don'ts:

Here's what this year's maze looked like:

Our group getting ready to head into the maze:

The camera flash really lights things up, but let me tell you it was rather disorienting to be in there in the dark. I'm glad some of our group had the foresight to bring flashlights....which they promptly handed to all the kids.....who promptly shined them in everyone's eyes. Well, at least Grant did. I wouldn't have expected anything less from him. 

The adults, well, the male adults, and the teenagers commenced with hiding in the corn stalks and scaring right away. Our kids freaked out at first but then they tried to join in on the scaring too. Grant or Samuel would run ahead a little ways, hide in the corn, and then jump out when we would pass and shout, Boo! Unfortunately for Grant, he did not get that he should probably turn off his flashlight while he was trying to hide from us. Oh, well, he was none the wiser, and our screams of pretended fright delighted him to no end. All in all the maze took about an hour and our kids were not ready to leave it. Surprise, surprise! They wanted to try it again and we probably would have but they were closing and wouldn't let us go back in. 

More drain pipe slide:

These girls were so cute. They kept sliding down together and in a very monotone voice (which I don't think they realized) would say: "this is awesome!"

Samuel pulling his cool ninja moves:

Super fun night - this family event is definitely a keeper!

TX Fall :)

We have been enjoying some lovely much cooler weather lately. The kids are taking most of their afternoon snacks in the front yard and have taken to doing their homework in the front yard as well. I completely love that! The cooler weather has brought out other families as well and we have been having a lot of fun getting to know the other families in our cul de sac. 

Enjoying an after school snack:

Lillie modeling her new fall fashion she purchased with hard earned allowance money:

Grant tossing the ball for Chelsea, the dog who lives across the street:

This is our perfect family dog. She lives with someone else but is close enough that my kids can play with her whenever they choose. Plus her owners are totally happy to let me kids wear her out :)

S loves Legos! Here he is putting together another set that he purchased with his own money.

This kid is too funny. He will wake up at 6 in the morning. Get dressed and sneak down to the guest bedroom to put his legos together. (We have him put his new sets together in there to avoid them laying all over the kitchen counters or getting mixed up with the other toys in the playroom.)When I go to wake him up to get dressed for school I get a big surprise that he's already been up for an hour! Then when he gets home from school he immediately heads to this room to get started again. 

Tim - Houston Tough Mudder

About a year ago Tim discovered his love for Tough Mudders by completing in one in Austin, TX with his friends the Easton brothers. Then he did another one with a different group of guys a reasonable 6 months later in Bastrop, TX. Then Kris Easton invited him and the other Easton brothers to Lake Tahoe to do one of these crazy/awesome (depending who you are) races the last weekend of September. Cool right? Yes, and he had a ton of fun. But then the crazy dude signed up for another one scheduled to be run only a week later. This one was with his co-workers and I finally got to go and see what all the fuss was about.

Heading into the barbed wire mud pits:

His Marketing Team from work who were running in memory of their late co-worker John Thomas

L to R:

Ashley Davis, Jake McCollum, Phil Bankey, Holly McCollum, Tim

Hay Bale Mountain

Getting ready to jump into the Arctic Enema - yeah, it's basically and ice bath that goes over your head.

 mmm.... that was refreshing!

Mud Mile

Blades of Glory Walls:

They had to climb up that inside part that inclines towards you. pictured below:

Here's Ashley braving the electric shock therapy:

Getting ready to take a 20 foot drop into a pool of muddy (of course!) water:

Helping their teammates up the slipper slide-y half pipe after they've already made it up:

12.5 muddy miles and countless obstacles later these five have definitely earned their beers, 

plus a water bottle for Tim. Cheers!