Thirty-Second Passage

Friday was homsechool day at Linder Farms. I decided to venture out with my brood for a little field trip. Morgan was the most excited. He's been excited since we went to Farmstead last year.

After paying our way in, we headed to the slide.

Then the kids played on the tires.

We found some good photo opp place.

Then we headed to the haybale maze, which was actually a little tricky. I went in with Lydia, while the boys zoomed through it twice.

They also had a little petting zoo. That's where half the kids collected animal poop on their shoes.
Morgan and William got to hold a little bunny.

The corn box, which Morgan had been look forward to, was a hit.

They are making corn angels. :)

After the box, the kids were hungry, so, as part of the discount price, each child could get a little bag of popcorn and a capri sun for a buck. I got them for all the kids, and Morgan had a bit of a melt-down, because he "didn't like popcorn!" We sat down to eat and Morgan was still being grumpy, so I had a piece of his popcorn that he didn't like and refused to eat, which led to a complete melt-down from Morgan. I'm talking screaming at the top of his lungs, and flailing his limbs about and lashing out at people around him. There were many people around to witness this. I tried my best to calm him, but nothing doing. It soon became apparent that our only course of action was to leave. I apologized to the other children, since we had been saving the hayride and pumpkin patch for last, and now we wouldn't be able to do that. So I grabbed my purse, Lydia's popcorn, Morgan's popcorn, Lydia's drink, Morgan's drink, and let the way to the car, all the while Morgan screamed and tried to rip the popcorn from my hand. (Oh, in the mess of getting up from the table, I moved Morgan's chair during a huge fit, and then he tried to sit back down, but there was no chair, so down to the ground he fell, fueling his furious fire. It might have looked like I did it on purpose, only adding to the onlooker's suspicion that I was a terrible mother.)
But now we have a new problem. Lydia is angry about leaving and refuses to come with me. Instead she chooses to throw a tantrum on the ground, rolling around in the wet hay and dirt, also screaming. I managed to pick her up by a handful of her jacket, and lug her away from the crowded eating area. But she is heavy! So I gave her another chance at walking next to me. Mistake. She went the other direction. We must have been quite the spectacle, a frazzled mother chasing down a screaming toddler, being chased in turn by a rabid five year old, making inhuman sounds, while the other two kids chomped popcorn, and waited patiently. I eventually got a hold of Lydia, and stomped back to the van, with Morgan trailing and threatening the whole time that he wouldn't ever stop whining until I gave him the popcorn that started it all. I'm happy to report that I ate that popcorn in the car on the way home, while he whimpered in the backseat. No way was he going to get a single kernal of popcorn after that.