Pam's Week 40: Children of the Corn....Maze

So midway through the week, I spoke to Sharon and realized that I didn't really understand this assignment at all.  I knew I was supposed to take 30 pictures in 30 minutes but didn't realize that I was actually supposed to set a timer and take one every minute for 30 minutes!  Thinking I was brilliant, I told Sharon that I was planning on taking my shots tonight at Farmer Bob's Corn Maze.  I figured there'd be lots of time to get pics of the animals, the buildings, the pumpkins plus the maze itself.  Little did I know that all our timing would be way off today and we'd be arriving at dusk which means I'd be snapping my 30 photos in the dark.  Just in case you didn't realize it - a dark corn maze is not particularly photogenic for 3 photos, let alone 30.  As a result, I've cheated slightly and upon exiting the maze took a few extra shots; I could say they were taken during the 30 minutes but we were not able to get through the maze in 30 minutes.  If it wasn't for my brother and Renee's skilled reading of the map, I'm pretty sure I'd still be lost in there somewhere!

I had considered taking the kids to the maze on Wednesday night which would have allowed for more daylight and it was a gorgeous evening with blue skies and sunshine.  I thought it would be more fun with more people though so texted my brother to see if he and Renee would like to join us if we went Saturday.  He replied that Renee has always wanted to do one but thought maybe we should watch 'Children of the Corn' first.  I said she could certainly watch it but now that I'm an adult and have realized that I actually HATE horror movies and my parents were right all those years ago, I did not want to relive that, particularly since the plan was to take my children into the corn.  I've since learned that she's also a wimp who hates horror movies but I still promised to credit her for the title of this blog post.

The haunted corn maze starts in a couple of weeks.  I've never done it and am not sure I have the heart for it.  My brother thought he'd put on the scary mask we'd found to scare the kids and I can't promise that I didn't pee my pants a little even though I was expecting it!  Renee is pretty sure Danica stopped breathing when he jumped out at them and I'm shocked she didn't cry.  We ran into my friend, Kathy, on our way out (she was there with her daughter and her friends but she wasn't allowed to go into the maze with them because she's embarrassing) and she thinks we should do the haunted corn maze for our games night in a couple of weeks.  Sharon, Maxine - are you ladies in?

Anyways, here are some of my photos.....

The first one was taken at the sign at the entrance....

This is the old-fashioned cash register where you pay your admission.

This is one of the old buildings on the farm.

Mr. Moose was there to welcome us into the maze...

The kids were being spooky...

Unfortunately Uncle Chris has lots more practice...

 Some corn silk...

Getting one of the punches at the map...

Duncan found an open ear of corn.

This was the scary mask we'd found.

This is my brother wearing the scary mask.  After scaring us, he continued trying to scare other people in the maze.

The kids kept running on up ahead, which was fine until everyone abandoned me and I was left with no companions and no flashlight and a dying phone...That's when Kathy saw my kids running out of the maze and thought they were all alone (they'd actually left the maze with my cousin, Courtney, and her friend but Kathy didn't know them).

More corn stalks...

Scary family photo (too bad Daddy was at work) - does this count when we had someone else take the picture when the timer went off?  Why does Danica have a great smile in the "let's be scary" picture and the weird open mouth "I'm about to eat you" smile when we're taking nice photos?

Farmer Bob - a local staple

Kathy - keeping warm by the fire and trying her best not to embarrass her daughter for at least a few minutes.

You think the fun would have ended at this point.  We'd done the maze.  We had lots of laughs, a few frights.  We'd run into some good friends and had some nice catch-ups (okay, I see Kathy every day but it's still nice to see a friendly face).  For most of the world, that would have been enough.  Not for me, though.  I had to make sure I entertained everyone one last time before we reached the cars and went our separate ways.  Walking through the dark field, Courtney worried that I was about to step in a big old manure pile so said, "Watch your step, Pam" as I stepped into a bit of a dip, went over on my ankle and did some acrobatic manoeuvre that I'm sure is not able to be replicated, landing flat on my back right between two piles of manure.  Amazingly, none ended up on me, my shoes, my clothes.  As of right now, the only thing hurting is my possibly arthritic big toe on my left foot and my pride.  Instead of rushing over to make sure I was okay, I heard lots of giggles and my brother running over saying, "Wait, don't move!  You need another photo for your 30 photos in 30 minutes!".  He pulled out his phone and started taking pictures of me splayed in the field surrounded by horse poop.  Once he was sure he had a photo worthy of blackmail and knew I wasn't covered in manure myself, he offered me a hand and helped me up.  Maybe my photos weren't quite what Sharon was expecting, knowing the goldmine that Farmer Bob's can be, but the memories were memorable!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!