Which Witch?

Yesterday afternoon I had plans with my mother and sister to go to Gardner Village so that the kids could see the witches and do the petting zoo and pony rides.

I pick the kids up from school and we head on over. I told my sister to plan on us being there about a quarter after 3. Well I was a little behind and at 3:15 she calls and asks where we're at. Tanis (he answered my phone cause I was busy at the ATM) tells her that we are about 5 minutes away, then my mom gets on and tells Tanis we might beat them there.

It's about 3:30 when we get parked, so I call my sister and asked where she was. Her reply: "We're almost leaving Mom's. So I figure they'll get there in about 25 minutes, I'll feed Ailey. That was all fine and good for Ailey, but the big kids got antsy. You try being stuck in a packed car for 25 minutes when you're young.

So when Ailey is done eating, I decide we can get out of the car at least so that the kids won't be so ornery and Ailey will have a change of scenery. We waited outside for a good 15 minutes before my sister, mom and little brother show up. (If you were keeping track that means I was waiting for 45 minutes for them...GRRR....)

Anyway, we head straight to the petting zoo and pony rides as they were supposed to close at 5. We then discover that the prices have really gone up and it'll cost $5 for each of my kids to do both the pony ride AND petting zoo. Say goodbye to $20 fast. Then they expected parents to pay $3 to get into the petting zoo as well.

Well, my little sister only had 1 kid to pay for, so she said she'd pay to go into the petting zoo with all the kids. When I went to pay for the pony rides and petting zoo, the girl says, "And it costs parents $3 for the petting zoo." I looked at her and said, "I'm not going in, (pointing to my sister) she's going in with all the kids." Take that you stupid overcharged venue! Okay, so maybe I was a little irritated after having to wait for 45 minutes with 5 kids.... Oh, I guess I should mention that they don't take cards, and all I had was a $20 bill. Had they taken cards I probably would've paid the extra $3 for me to get in.

The Pony Ride Pics: (I don't have any from the petting zoo (obviously), but my little sis promises to send the ones she took to me)



... Poor kid was so scared, he was trying to climb off the whole time. I was trying to avoid droppings ...



After the Pony Ride/Petting Zoo we went to work finding the witches and trying to get pics of the kids. The kids weren't so thrilled with taking pics as they wanted their cookie that they'd get for finding all the witches.

It was fun to see how excited the kids got when they actually found a witch. Lex started filling out his paper, but after deciding he was too slow to write the locations down, he had me take over.

... Tanis is either casting a spell or directing traffic, not sure which ...

... The little girls DID NOT like the hay ...

... Once again, they are color coordinated without prior planning ...

... She'll be watched over as she gets older ...

We found all the witches, though we had to guess on one and then headed to the bakery to get the discounted cookies. The kids were thrilled that I even let them have a can of soda. Aren't I nice?

We took some time to eat our cookies and in the meantime, my older sister surprised everyone by showing up and hanging out with us. We actually left after we finished the cookies and tried (unsuccessfully) to get a picture of Grandma and all her Grandkids, but my sisters, mom and little bro all stayed.

... Literally, the best pic I got of all the grandkids, except for Nate ...

... This is what this little bugger preferred doing ...

I left so that I'd get home at the same time as Eric and before I spent money I didn't have in the cute little stores. I am proud of myself for practicing a little self control.

All in all it was a good day, but it left me worn out. That's usually what happens when I take all 5 kids anywhere by myself.