Goin' to Goebberts

Bummer, blogus blitzus interruptous!

So, despite our planned blogging blitz, it didn't really happen for a multitude of reasons. The first of which was that once Christa had these pictures ready to go, blogger was having issues uploading them to the blog. The second of which was that once Christa managed to get blogger to cooperate, I was busy working and not able to stay awake long enough once I got home to write a blog that made any sense at all. So here we are, once again . . . a week behind, so please understand that this is all stuff that happened last week, not this week (note the date on the blog). Without further ado, here we go . . .

On Saturday, October 13th, Emily, Christa, Grandma Kathy & I all went to the pumpkin farm to pick out our pumpkin and enjoy all the festivities. Now I should tell you that this is not a pumpkin farm in the truest sense of the word, but really a nursery/garden center/vegetable market. They do sell pumpkins at this time of year and have a lot of festivities and fun stuff to draw a crowd, which they do a pretty good job of. So, the group of us went to do what there was to do. Some of the attractions include: a haunted house, pony rides, a small zoo, a corn maze, a straw maze, pig races, camel rides, and hay rides. I am sorry to say that we didn't do it all, but we did do a bunch.

What did we do, you ask yourself? Hold your horses, we're going to tell you. Have we ever denied you the information that we have teased? When we got there, we took a couple of pictures with the cut-outs that they had, and also picked a couple of little mini pumpkins for Emily. Then we went over to watch the kids riding on the ponies. Emily didn't seem all that interested in riding on the ponies; she did ask if she could bet on them, and I had to tell her that these ponies weren't really racing, but just going around in circles. I did assure her that we would be seeing some races later. From the ponies, we went to see the first zoo tent, and it was really impressive. They had quite the array of animals including: Monkeys, Deer, Cougars, Tigers, baby Lions, Goats, Llamas, and Alpacas. We could have had a picture taken with the Lion cubs but they were being a little frisky & rough and I wouldn't have felt comfortable having Emily that close to them. After the first zoo tent, we went to watch the pig races. We got a spot at turn three, right at the end of the back stretch, and Emily immediately started to look for the betting windows. Sadly, it turns out that you can't bet on the pigs either; Emily was very disappointed, so, we placed some wagers between ourselves. Emily did very well, even without any handicappers to give her some information. After the pig races, once Emily & I settled up our bets, we went into the aviary tent to look at the pretty birds. Emily was very interested in the birds and paid rapt attention to the few raptors they had. After the aviary, Emily & I went into the straw maze to get lost, and then found. We had a lot of fun in the maze and Christa had lots of fun watching us get lost, but she was very happy once we were found. After this, we went in the last zoo tent, which had Giraffes, Zebras and some deer-like animal with long horns that did not have a sign.

After looking at all the animals, it was time to take a ride, but not on some boring old pony; we took a CAMEL ride. Emily was very excited about this and I thought it was just OK, I mean what's the big deal right? So while I waited in line, Emily, Christa & Grandma Kathy picked out our pumpkin. When it was time, Emily joined me in line and we took our camel ride. After riding on Spitsy, I came to this conclusion: camelback is the only way to travel. Emily & I had a great time, and we learned that camels are not wiry, they are very soft. A lot of the people waiting in line ooohhed and aaahed at the cute little girl riding on the camel. I can't wait till next year to do it again.

So there you go, we are a little closer to being caught up again, and we have also learned that Camel rides are cool.

"Wait a minute . . . where did this mini pumpkin come from?"

"Daddy, did you see who put this mini pumpkin on my stroller?"

"Hey, Mommy, Look!! I'm standing next to a really big bunny!"

"Mommy, I'm sooooooo big."

"I'm almost as tall as Daddy."

This crazy gibbon was very attentive to his audience.

CHICKENS!!!

Deer . . .

. . . and Wallabies, oh my!

Emily was having the best time looking all around, taking it all in.

She thought the Lemurs were funny.

She was very relieved that the groomer for these Alpacas had not done her haircut.

"Feeding" the goats with Daddy.

The pig race crowd was getting really full, Emily thought that she might have a better view if she sat on Daddy's shoulders.

"Hey, what's over there?"

Here come the pigs around the turn.

After the pig races, we went to the aviary and looked at the birds. This was Emily's favorite part. She really had a lot of fun, and laughs, watching the birds. Our first stop was to see this beautiful Tawny Eagle.

What a cute little bird. He's so poofy, and he has the cutest red patch on his chest. We don't know what type of bird he is, but we liked him.

We also really liked these colorful pheasants.

Oh, no! What could Emily have done to get her face on a "Wanted" poster? Was it the murder of all of those innocent peas? Look at that face, not an ounce of remorse for her criminal act, it's almost as if she enjoyed it.

Not only was she on a "Wanted" poster, but she was caught and incarcerated. We really need to teach her to crawl away from people who are chasing her.

"I'm innocent! I'm innocent! Daddy, could you please give me a tin can so I can clang it on the bars in protest?"

Lost in the hay maze.

"Daddy, I see Mommy! I think we need to go that way to get out of here."

"Grandma, look at all of these pumpkins! Do you think Auntie Mandy would be able to find me if I sat here?"

"We're going for a camel ride. We're going for a camel ride! WE'RE GOING FOR A CAMEL RIDE!!!"

"Mommy, look!! I'm riding on a camel!!"

"Mommy, did you see that I'm riding a camel?"

"Auntie Mandy is going to be so jealous that we're sitting in a tractor, Mommy."