Smashing Pumpkins with the Children of the Corn

I hate to travel. For reference, please see previous blogs that mention how anti-social I am. However, we just took a long, long, long overdue family vacation. We packed up the kids, the grandma and ourselves, and headed out to wonderful Ft. Collins, Colorado. My uncle, aunt, cousins and their myriad of wonderful children were our hosts for one of the best vacations ever.
After our record 7 hour, 20 minute drive we were greeted by my aunt and uncle and our two new best buddies, Evie and Alex. Evie is the adorable Doberman, with the sweetest nature you have ever seen. Alex (a girl) is the alpha male...and we love her dearly.

That night we were treated to a giant spaghetti dinner with the fam. It was so much fun to have all of the munchkins running around us, and me catching up with a few of my cousins that I hadn't seen in forever and ever.

On Friday we took a trip to Old Town, which we thoroughly enjoyed. They even had a store that sold cookie dough. They had cookies that were cooked too, but they sold cookie dough, in cups, with spoons as a snack food....that is my kind of place. then we kind of kicked it for the afternoon and got ready for the (imagine a musical crescendo) for the corn maze.

Okay, this was the coolest thing ever. The place we went to is run by individuals who have had past issues with drugs and alchohol and are trying to get their lives back together. It is a real working farm, and a fabulously inspiring place.

We started our evening at the pumpkin cannon. Yes, you are correct, I said cannon. And who was the first to try it...the three year old. And let me tell you, from my own experience with the canon. THAT WAS SO COOL.

Once we all had an opportunity to blow stuff up (nothing brings a family together like a pumpkin cannon and corn cob guns), we headed over to the pumpking smash. The kids are all natural athletes. And I am not so bad myself.

And after watching our group of 18 thoroughly enjoy hitting pumpkins to smithereens with a baseball bat, we headed off for the traditional hay ride. We went around learned about how the farm operated and how the individuals that lived/worked their managed it all.

After the hay ride, we sent the munchkins off for a barrel ride. A barrel ride is a unique invention, I don't know if it is indiginous to Colorado, or if the phenomenon has eeked it's way through the nation. Just remember, I am anti-social and hate to travel, I have a very limited amount of life experience to refer to.

A barrel ride is about 10 of the giant water barrels, with holes cut cut for you to climb in, and the entire lot is hooked up to an ATV and off you go for the four wheeling ride of your life. I didn't go, but I was waiting for someone to get thrown out and run over. But it didn't happen and they all survived, even though they are a little wind blown.

Here is the whole crew, right before the all important...PIG RACES.

In my oh so humble opinion, life is not complete until you have had a chance to observe pig racing. And with top notch contenders like Kevin Bacon, Hamgelina Jolie and Big Red who could resist?

Once we watched the champion edition of the pig races, it was time to head off to the corn maze. And you have never experienced a corn maze until you have done it with 10 kids, 6 adults (a few of which were directionally challenged), a stroller and more flashlights than we could count.

We started very enthusiastically until we realized that we were going to have to do a kid check every turn or so. But the kids were great at following directions, like the one they heard the most, "Wait here while I figure out where we are." Thank goodness for the maps that were placed every so often to tell you where you were in the giant maze.

Now, to be fair, Joe did a fabulous job leading us. Chris did an amazing job hauling all of the kids on his back when they got tired, and I did a great job hiding my claustrophobia while I was hyperventilating.

And major kudos to Savannah and her incredible sense of direction that managed to get us through the maze in a whopping 30 minutes. :D

So to try and shorten this already incredibly long blog, on Saturday we went up to Estes Park and visited the fabulous Stanley Hotel (where they filmed the Shining). However, I still think they had to have filmed the Pirate Movie there as well (you know, the one with Kristy McNichol and the dude from the Blue Lagoon).

But it was a gorgeous day and we had the most fabulous barbeque at a restaurant called Smokin' Daves. I highly recommend it if you are ever in the neighborhood.

We had another wonderful family dinner on Saturday night, brunch on Sunday morning, and a barbeque Sunday night. And for good measure, we sang Happy Birthday to Felix (a couple of days early) and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Thanks to all who made our trip wonderful. I can't wait to see you all again.

Lessons Learned

1. Even if you hate to travel, every mile is worth it to spend time with your family.

2. Corn mazes in the dark totally freak me out...and I loved it.

3. My kids are better behaved when they travel...still not perfect, but definitely closer.

4. I can no longer drive long distances without my eyes crossing...don't ask...it's a long story.

5. I need to check out Corn Belly's for a little bit of closer to home fun.