Corn Maze

We went to a corn maze with our community group after church a few weeks back. I've never been to one, but they seemed like such a fun fall activity. I was glad to share this experience with a group of people - I now think that corn mazes are best conquered with a group. 

The maze was in this shape and the objective was to find the little numbered stations. Each one had a little punch that corresponded with the station's number. Carson led the way through the maze and we all followed, sort of amazed (pun not intended) that he could actually tell where he was going. 

There were two mazes. We did the big one first, then took a break by enjoying the other things the farm had to offer, like a chance to be the American Gothic painting. 

I'm actually 5'1", so this can't be correct. 

And he's 6'2".

They had this pumpkin rolling chute. If your pumpkin made it past a certain point down the hill, you received a free admission.

We went into the barn. There were several ways in. Deanna and I chose the one that was meant for children. 

I felt sorry for this calf. I think he was sleepy, and not embarrassed by his ear tags.

Carson sort of milked a cow. 

And Lana bonded with this piglet, while we discussed Charlotte's Web.

This donkey's name is Jenny, and the sign on her pen warned us that she bites. She was attracted by the sound of my camera's shutter.

And also by the fabric of Deanna's scarf, which she nibbled.

Cornhole was played. I didn't know that there are actual rules, but they were taken seriously.

See Carson's green pumpkin bumping around down there?

Then we decided to do the second maze and finish getting our punches.

And celebrated by shooting the corn cannons (which actually shot tennis balls). Carson and Bryce took this seriously.

We finished off the afternoon by going on a hayride. 

 But we really wanted to ride the bumpy cow ride. 

Instead, we packed up and went home. 

Calvin the Snowman

One thing you probably didn't know about Carson: his family LOVES comics. His parents have books of Dilbert, Foxtrot, Calvin and Hobbes and other fun comics. They are one of my favorite things to look through when I'm over at their house. 

I say this because in the comic Calvin and Hobbes, the main character, Calvin, builds all kinds of crazy snowmen. Here are several examples (I searched "Calvin and Hobbes snowmen" to find these):

So when Carson thinks of snowmen, he thinks of Calvin. 

This leads us to the evening of the day it snowed. It was 9pm and Carson had just gotten off work. I was brushing my teeth, when I thought of something I wanted to do. "Hey Carson, want to build a snowman?" I asked. He was a little surprised but we pulled our boots on over our sweatpants and braved the outdoors.

Our snowman started off rather small, but he grew within a matter of moments. Doesn't our house look so cozy in the snow?

We wanted our snowman to face the street, so our neighbors could look on him with envy (people actually slowed down to watch us build him), but for the sake of this picture (and really only for that reason), we made him face the house. Then we turned him around.

We christened him Calvin, in honor of the comics Carson loved so much. He has raisin eyes, a carrot nose, and pretzel stick arms. He's a little homely but we love him! (well, loved. That's the thing about snowmen)

He later got stick arms (a tree across the street fell down from the snowstorm) and the pretzel sticks became hair.

And this is him the next afternoon.

While I took those pictures, I found some fun snow things in the backyard - like cat prints.

And fall leaves mixed in with the snow.

Oh, and for a walk down memory lane, here's the first snowman we ever made, and the only ever snowman before this one. His name was Earl and we made him on January 1, 2010 when we were engaged: