Old Bakers Farm

I know it has been a while since I have posted. Sorry about that! No, we haven't dropped off the face of the earth. Life in the fall for the Messner family is always a "whirlwind" of sorts. This is absolutely my favorite time of year and every year I get a little frustrated with all the activities that keep us so busy that I feel like I miss out on some of it's beauty. Oh well, if the Lord tarries, it will come around again this time next year.

Two of our sons have been on their first field trip for this year. (Each class gets two a school year). They were a week apart which was a bit expensive for us, but they were fun. The boys love to go on field trips. I'm not as excited about it-children tend to "act out" on field trips (not mine of course! LOL) and it makes me rather tense. But you can't help but smile at their excitement. I usually volunteer to drive since I have a mini-van and can carry several passengers. Jacob and I invited my Mom to go along. We went to "Old Baker's Farm" about 30 minutes from our school. It is a real working farm, but they have opened it up to visitors (for a fee) to help with their expenses. Mr. Baker, the original owner was sitting on a bench watching all the kids. He was getting ready to have his 100th birthday that next weekend! You couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind.

They have animals, a pumpkin patch, cotton field and a hay maze. We had our picnic lunch in the loft of their 100 year old barn (above the animals). We all had a nice time, but were all very tired when we got home. It was a lot of walking and very dusty. (we haven't had much rain lately). Here are some pictures from our day.

Here Jacob and some of his classmates are petting a brand new baby goat. It was very sweet!

The kids were so cute petting the baby animals!

They had a pumpkin patch and let all of us pick a pumpkin to take home. Of course we all had to pay $3.00 for this mind you. We rode out to the pumpkin patch in a trailer (Hay ride). There were a few too many people on our trailer and it was quite "squished"! I was glad when that part was over. Jacob couldn't wait to pick his pumpkin out. You had to be very careful not to step in an ant bed though. For those of you that are not from the south-those aren't harmless little ants I'm talking about...they are called "fire ants"-not sure why unless it's because "it hurts like fire" when they bite you! Ha! Yes, you guessed it I got in one...I was less than blessed for a while.

He wasn't too sure about this one. It was one of many he put back.

Way too many choice there!

Here is the pumpkin Jacob ended up with. He was very happy with his final choice but it took a while to decide. I was about ready to pick one for him. :-)

There was a huge field of cotton that they still harvest and sell. They allowed the children to pick as much as they wanted, but asked them to place it in a basket at the side of the field. They also told them each child could take a small piece home with them. It was fun for the kids, but I don't think that is something they would want to do for a living!

Jacob (on the left) with his friends, Ryan and Blake

It is very hard to get 14 1st and 2nd graders to all look the same way at the same time!