Another beautiful (but cold) fall morning.
We decided to spend it in a corn maze.
So we went here:
This was a serious maze--the biggest in Wisconsin!--with challenges on multiple levels. And math. Wait, let me try that again: And MATH!!!!!
This is David and Mary at the entrance. I had no doubt that by the end, Greg would be carrying both of them. I determined to get a picture of them on their own two feet. (I guess Mary's only on one foot, but you know what I mean.)
This is a view of the corn field in which we would be wandering. (I told you Wisconsin is quite lovely.)
We set off.
We each had a job.
Mary was the leader. Yes, our three-year-old led us through the corn maze. Fortunately, she was wise enough to turn to Greg for guidance at each juncture.
Greg was the navigator.
David was the flag bearer. (We BEGGED and PLEADED him to leave the flag at the entrance. But he was 100% determined that he would carry that thing the whole way. It was a blessing and a curse: He had a job and didn't try to usurp Mary's status as leader, but, well, let's just say we all got poked and bonked plenty with the too-tall-for-a-five-year-old flag pole.)
My job was to take pictures. Which is why there are approximately 800 pictures in this post. (I also served as the assistant flag bearer at those moments when the primary flag bearer was feeling frail and/or had poked his dad in the bum a few too many times.)
You only start the maze with a piece of the map. You have find a certain mailbox to get the next piece of the map. There were 7 mailboxes to find. It was always super exciting to find a mailbox. Progress! The kids showed lots of enthusiasm.
Here we are at one of them. (Notice that David nearly decapitated his father.)
Mary and David usually pooped out on the bench at each mailbox.
Greg served diligently as our navigator.
He only got us lost once (though he disputes this and insists that he knew where we were at all times--as THE HUMAN GPS, he has a reputation to maintain).
About halfway through the maze, David and Mary decided to start taking naps at the mailbox stations.
Nappers:
Faker:
There were also stops at top secret locations. We found two of the eight (which we thought was pretty good!).
Finally, Mary decided to take over my responsibility of assistant flag bearer.
She eventually wrested the flag pole from David.
By this point, David was begging to be carried. (I was impressed that he waited until the near-end to ask to be carried. I thought he would beg to be carried after the first three steps.)
Greg did not carry David. Instead, he offered him a hand.
More napping ensued at the seventh mailbox.
Until they realized it was the LAST mailbox--and our map was complete!
David planned our route out of the maze.
Indeed, David and Mary did a great job leading us out of the maze. They sprinted to the finish, leaving Mom, Dad, and the blasted flag in the dust.
David and Mary investigating the word "exit":
Hooray! We made it! I'm sad that this last picture is totally out of focus, but it does prove something very important...
...David and Mary finished the way they began. On their own feet! Yay!
You know how sometimes family outings are more fun afterwards when you start to forget all the whining and constant crises? For the record, this was NOT one of those times. We all genuinely had a great time--during the time. Hooray!
A big thank you to Greg for taking off a few hours of much-needed studying to be our navigator. Without him, we would have been stuck in the corn until harvesting.
