Down on the farm

I’m going to begin today’s post by quoting a few lines from the 1985 film classic, “Teen Wolf.” [Editor’s note: I realize that quoting “Teen Wolf” kind of destroys any semblance of illusion that this blog is being written by a baby, but too bad. Besides, I watched “Teen Wolf” with Eliza sitting on my lap a few months ago, so it’s at least somewhat conceivable that she can quote one of the best lines from the movie.] The quote comes from Coach Finstock, the head basketball coach for the Beavers:

“There’s three rules that I live by: Never get less than 12 hours sleep. Never play cards with a guy who’s got the same first name as a city. And never go near a lady who’s got a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick with that, and everything else is cream cheese.”

After the events of this past Saturday, I’d like to add one more rule to live by: Never visit Remlinger Farms during the month of October.

For those of you who don’t know it, Remlinger Farms is a sort of country-themed amusement park located about 45 minutes east of Seattle. There’s a country store, concessions, petting zoo, train, hay maze, a few rides and a bunch of other family-themed activities. In other words, it’s the type of sanitary environment where you can eat a caramel apple while petting a goat. It’s really a lovely place to visit. In the spring and summer, that is.

But when October rolls around, they start their annual Fall Harvest Pumpkin Festival, and every family within a 35-mile radius descends upon it. I’m pretty sure that going to Remlinger Farms is the official fall weekend activity for white people with kids in the Seattle area. Where else can you buy a pumpkin for thrice what you would pay at Safeway?

So, not surprisingly, the place was absolutely packed on Saturday, which made it a chore to get food, wait in line for the train, or even just get a little one-on-one time with the animals in the petting zoo. Despite these first-world problems, I must say that I still had a ton of fun. I enjoyed the train ride around the park, I was mesmerized by the chainsaw sculptor, and I loved all the animals in the petting zoo. I also learned that it’s pretty entertaining to watch your parents’ faces when they see you pet a donkey and then immediately put your hand in your mouth.

And since I’ve so gleefully talked up this place, here are some photos from our Saturday at Remlinger Farms.

"Hey, goat. It's good to see you. I like your beard. I had a beard like that in The Perfect Storm."

Here's Dad trying to get me excited about Pickles the pig. I was apparently more interested in the fence.

I was, however, excited to see the alpaca.

Very excited.

Donkey kisses.

"Let's go again!"

Another pig, another unimpressed baby.

Meow!

This is the chainsaw sculptor I was mesmerized by. We didn't stay long enough to see what his final product looked like, but I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that it was going to be a bear.

Train ride! Fun fact: Remlinger Farms has more scarecrows on site than anywhere else on Earth. They were literally everywhere.

Mom points out some horses from the train.

Another scarecrow! I can't stress enough just how many of them there were.

Checking out the peacocks. None of them were showing off their feathers, so I've cropped them out. Jerks.

This is as far as I made it in the hay maze. I sat on that bale for roughly 30 seconds. Two days later, Mom and Dad are still finding stray pieces of hay on me.

Before leaving, we made our way to the grassy field next to Remlinger Farms so I could play.

Twirling is awesome!

Picking leaves.

And thank you for a wonderful day of sun, fun, animals and waiting in lines!

By the way, in the past week or so, I’ve had several people inform me that it’s been a long time since my last post. I’d like to apologize for making you wait so long. In my defense, it’s been a busy month: I’ve been trying to learn how to stand on my own (getting close!)… and, uh, that’s about it. Well, it seemed busier than it actually has been.

No matter. I plan on making it up to you in the coming weeks. I’ve got a lot of fun stuff to share, such as the hunt for the perfect Halloween costume (will Mom try to re-create Peapod-gate?) and the wonders of teething. There’s also the little matter of my upcoming first birthday – it’s just two weeks away! So stay tuned…