SMASHING PUMPKINS

No, this is not a post about music -- just 6 year old boys and their fascination will all things gooey, especially if it is inside a large container that can be smashed into the ground! Master S came home from school with a pumpkin yesterday. He and his class went on a field trip to Hee Haw Farms and these are a few of the highlights, in Master S' words(*):

Mom: "How was lunch?"
*We ate lunch with wasps and hornets (apparently he ended up eating in the bus with a couple of girls who "are really nice and didn't want me to eat by myself" because he didn't like the wasps - leave it to Master S to find a way to eat with the girls!)

*Wasps is a funny word -- isn't it mom? and so is hornet!

Mom: "Was there a tractor?"
*We went on a hay ride - but I lost my hat (his new colts snow hat) while we were riding, and we had to go back and find it and it had dust all over it, so we slapped it against my pants and this big cloud of dust came out (as I'm noticing dirt smears all over his pants).

Mom: "Were there any animals?"
*Yeah, there was this huge pig -- he was so big!

Mom: "What was your favorite part?"
*The corn maze -- I did it all by myself.
Mom: "How did you find your way?"
*Mom, of course I just followed the signs!

*There was this huge slide with, like, 19 steps and I climbed all the way to the top. But, I got a little scared on step 19. But I went down all by myself and a towel. (This is a huge accomplishment for him, considering we've been working on heights a lot -- something that has been really hard for him since he was little).

He obviously had a great time. He got to choose a pupmkin at the farm and brought it home in his backpack and immeadiately he wanted to roll it down the driveway. Our driveway is famous on the street for having the best angle - in the winter when it is snowing and icy it is awful, but it makes a great snow slide, car racing track and bike accelerator for all the kids. It is something I will miss in the summer, but definately not in the winter!!! Since we'd already picked out pumpkins as a family, this was an extra and I thought, what's it going to hurt? Little did I know it would bring out all the 6 year old boys in the nieghborhood! And pretty soon we had boys rolling pumpkins, small, medium and large down our driveway. And you know what that led too --- smashing pumpkins on the sidewalk and then "ooooh", and "ahhhh" and "awesome!", "cool", "let's do that again!!!" Well, needless to say I had to put my foot down or I think the whole street would have ended up with smashed pumpkins for Halloween. There were so many seeds -- the new owners of the house may end up with some surprise pumpkin plants in the front yard next spring! I love the curiousity and delighted instrest of 6 year old boys!!!!