Family Day 2009

Our little family

I seriously love this guy. Seriously.

You got to "PRIME the PUMP!"

Sweet tunnel slide.

The Pumpkin Catapult. Awesome.

ps: Click on the labels below for past celebrations
pps: I love adoption
ppps: I totally spent twenty minutes debating whether or not it was acceptable to bastardize the Dewey Decimal system in order to make the non-fiction call number (on my fictional card catalog card) reflect the date (a four-digit number before the decimal) when it SHOULD be a three-digit number reflecting the category of non-fiction where my fake book would be shelved (ie "how-to, adoption reference, family photography, etc.). I need a life.

Mesilla Valley Maze

So, attached to the U-Pick Farm is the Mesilla Valley Maze. Possibly the coolest pumpkin patch I have ever been to. (To which I have ever been, grammar Nazis.)

It wasn't open when we first farmed, so you know we had to return the following week.

I have a fabulous friend out here, Cindy, one I can always count on to go on adventures. Her son, Austin, and Jooj are best pals, and get into a lot of trouble together. We took her husband's little car, because it used two gallons of his gas to get there, as opposed to the half a tank it would have taken our cars. (Note to self, Austin and Gigi should not sit that close to each other in a car again. Half a tank is worth the not touching.)

Shadows add, like, 70 pounds, right? RIGHT?
Included in the admission was a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. We didn't pick any because that is what we do for A Day. I have to save SOMETHING for later. For tradition. For the desperate Saturdays when I can't take another showing of Dora...
Our favorite thing in the entire world is roasted corn. We ate three hundred corns. Corn? Corns? I vote corns.
Once she got the hang of it (muscle memory from last year?) she wouldn't put the corn down.
Notice there is no diaper in this picture? Hooray! Notice I didn't show you the "after pics" of the corn later that night? You are welcome. PS--we sanitized the monkey out of Jooj before and after.

For the younger kids they set up a hay-bale trike maze, complete with custom John Deere trikes. They dug it.
How much do you think a Tire Mountain would cost? Less than that wooden play set at Costco?
"Have some fyowees, me Highness."
Screw those kids. I need a photo op.
Getting taller every year! Maybe she is not cursed to be a bean after all...
The kids' favorite part, by far, was the hill-slides. They ran up and down and up and down and up and down until they could barely stand. Then they crawled up and down. So incredibly dirty. I was really glad when Jooj was brave enough to go by herself so I could sit in the shade and eat corn.

(image kifed from MesillaValleyMaze.com)
After all of that, we didn't do the corn maze. Why? Because I don't need a spot in which to make out. Which is the primary function of corn mazes. Maybe next year.

A-Day 2007

We celebrated A-Day this year a little early, because the pumpkin patch isn't open on Monday, the actual anniversary of the day Jooj was sealed to us in the temple. She had a great time, and only a few meltdowns. The cow train was a big hit, as was roasted corn. Oh, roasted corn. Nature's perfect food. I add salt, lemon pepper, and Parmesan sprinkle. Delish. Oh--and as always we are grateful Jooj is in our famdamily. And we are grateful for roasted corn.