Rule #124: Llamas eat corn, not hay

Every year we get a pass to go to the Black Island Farm. I look forward to this every year. I love autumn. I love the colors, I love the crisp, cool air. I love the change in wardrobe. I love it all. And while I may not LOVE Halloween, free pumpkins and an autumn activity are right up my alley.

We weren't able to go last year due to the fact that we had a one week old baby in the house. I missed it. We had gone to a different pumpkin patch with my sister before Graham was born. It was fun too, just not the same.

Evan is starting to remember the farm too. I told him where we were going, tried to describe everything he would see, to decrease any anxiety he might feel. When we got there he was really excited to see all the animals and go down the slides. It was so cute to watch.

My mom joined us on the outing, though you'd never know from the pictures. Sorry Mom. I'm glad you came, even if I didn't capture it on film. :)

There are cows, mules, chickens, turkeys, peacocks, goats and llamas. The llamas were quite assertive this year. One kept hanging over the fence, waiting for people to feed it. We tried giving it hay from the ground, but it was not impressed. Then Alex found a pile of corn and offered that to the llama. It sucked it right up. Side note: llamas are kinda ugly. They have scary teeth, and they look mean and angry all of the time. Not at all cute and endearing like the llama from Emperors New Groove. (Though the animators got the look of them eating just perfect!)

We took the boys down all the slides. We started with the little ones. I'm not sure if Graham liked them or not. There were no squeals of delight, but no crying either. I'm sure he'll love them next year. Evan, on the other hand, was all about the slides. He got pretty good climbing up the bales of hay too. He can *almost* get up the little slide independently.

Then we moved on to the BIG slide, which we only did once. We were in kind of a hurry and only had an hour and a half at the farm. It was Graham's birthday and we had to get back in time for his party! (It was the only day that our free pass worked, otherwise we wouldn't have tried to go on his birthday)

Then Alex took the boys down the REALLY BIG slide, that's a tube. I can't believe he took Graham. I didn't expect him to. I went to get the stroller and the next thing I know I hear Evan's voice coming from the tube. "I don't want to go down. I don't WANT to go down!" I start yelling through the tube to Alex that he doesn't have to go, when suddenly all three of my loves are at the bottom.

We went on the cow train. Which is a really silly and uncomfortable ride being pulled by a tractor. The things we do for our kids. Evan had to sit by himself this time, and he did pretty well. My mom was trying to get a picture of us the entire time, most of them had her finger or the ground as the main focus. It was a bumpy ride. This picture however turned out great.

My mom treated us to the slingshot game this year. We've never really bothered with any of the games before. We got to throw corn cobs at targets in the field. We are terrible shots, but it makes me want to try it again next year!

We ended our day with the tractor ride to the pumpkin patch and we all picked out a pumpkin to take home. I kept trying to nudge Evan to pick a smallish pumpkin so it wouldn't be so cumbersome to carry. But he wasn't having any of it. I think he picked the largest one we got!

We had to hurry home to make sure everything was ready for Graham's party. We didn't play in the corn box (sandbox filled with corn kernels) or go through the corn maze. Next year I'm planning on three hours so that we can do it all! I can't wait!