Double Barreled Snot-gun

An illness is among the BSer family again. Nothing as severe as the ear infections but Sasha, Marcus and I all have colds of various degrees. Oh the joy.

And it all kicked in from following a few fall traditions, while forgetting the biggest one - make sure to dress warmly.

It all started with a family tradition that little kids generally love - going to the pumpkin farm. We met up with Grandma Susan at the Elegant Farmer around 11 AM.

The focus of the Elegant Farmer is apples, with pumpkins a close second. Third are the baked good, but those come later.

So we loaded the kids up in their wagon and pulled them from the car to the location where the tractors load up visitors to take out to the fields. While Sasha got tickets, Grandma Susan took Alya to the little shack where they sell cider doughnuts. Both Alya and Marcus loved the sugar, cinnamon yummy of fried dough.

However, when "tractor ride" was mentioned to Alya, her expression changed. She was a little scared at these huge machines that made lots of noise. Alya recognized that they were tractors, but had very little concept of the actual scale prior to that Saturday.

We made though the entire line and Alya was having nothing to do with sitting on a bail of hay as the tractors pulled them along. Screaming, yelling and kicking sold us on the idea that Alya could stay behind with Sasha, and such it was.

Marcus rode with Grandma Susan and myself, and seemed to enjoy it. No big thrills, but he liked to alternate who he snuggled up to while we bounced around the two apple orchards and the pumpkin patch.

Meanwhile, Alya had a grand time walking among the pumpkins back at the store. Two hay bordered squares filled with pumpkins makes for a grand obstacle course when you are two years old.

Eventually Marcus joined her and both of them played among the famous orange squash only taking a break for some apple slices with caramel on them. A fine reason to take five.

Afterward we went through the store and the BSers managed to only buy a loaf of pumpkin apple bread out of all the options of baked good there, including the classic Apple Pie in a Bag. But the motivating factor was the two large bags of apples which Sasha turned into three pies that evening.

Sadly, the fresh air might have been a little too much for Marcus, and he developed the double-barrel snotgun that evening. That boy is just like his daddy when he gets sick - miserable.

That evening was pie creation and consumption, with Grandma Nida coming over to spend time with the little ones and partake in pie. And eventually, she was goingt watch the kids while Sasha and I went out to a haunted house with Grandma Susan and Holly.

For Sasha, it was a near perfect fall day, doing fall things. We drove through the country viewing the color of the leaves while going to Elegant Farmer. Spent the day on a pumpkin farm with the kids. And wrapping it up with a trip to a haunted house.

Specifically, the Hartford Jaycees Haunted House up in Slinger, WI.

This place was fantastic. They had a really good system that would have allowed us to leave and return instead of standing in a long line to wait to go in. Unfortunately, that was Sasha and my folly. We stood outside in 46 degree weather for around three hours. While neither of us sport the double-barrel snotgun that Marcus carries, we are with him in misery.

But the Haunted House itself was very clever and neat. It starts with a dark trail poorly lit by torches that leads one among shacks inhabited by noise makers and actors ready to capitalize on all the anxiety that you've build up in anticipation from three hours of waiting.

The kicker is the walk through a huge metal tank with spooky lights on the inside and someone banging around on top of the tank. Eventually we got chased out and into the house proper.

And it is indeed a proper house that they've turned into a three story haunted mansion. You start on the top floor where the phantom of the opera greets you with his story. And the phantom really enjoyed his story, although Susan did feed his ego quite a bit by talking to him during his monologue.

Eventually we left that room and moved through the house, lots of dark stretches and great set piece rooms filled with actors and monsters on air powered pistons. It was a fun walk though the house that eventually led to the basement (complete with real musty basement smell) and out the cellar door.

The weird thing about the exit - it wasn't a chase out since you had to walk out stairs - but a calm exit. One that made you feel like you were in an actual horror movie waiting for that final moment where the bad guy leaps out to kill off the last survivor. But doesn't happen and instead a small ball of disquiet rests with you for the rest of the evening.

Good stuff, Maynard.

Jon

Links:
Pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/BSerHome/PumpkinFarmAndAfter
Elegant Farmer - http://www.elegantfarmer.com/
Hartford Jaycees Haunted House - http://www.hartfordjcs.com/