Fall weather and hay rides

My mom and dad always have a Fall get together before Halloween. Growing up, we did not celebrate Halloween, so they always made sure they had an activity to replace it. Those parties are so much fun and there is always the huge fire for roasting marshmallows and the hayride.

This year I only knew a few people. My brother and sister invited all their friends. I believe if you tell anyone under the age of 25 that there is a party with lots of free food and candy, they show up, especially on a Sunday night. The fire was huge and as always some people get too close and their tennis shoes melt. Seriously that happens.

The big event of the night was the hayride. We loaded the wagon with hay, adults, grandpas, grandmas, babies, toddlers and teenagers. My dad drives the tractor and for some reason goes what seems to us 50 MPH. We are all cuddled together trying to keep warm and at times singing. Usually someone follows behind the wagon in a car with blinkers on. For some reason, this year we were so excited, we just took off with no one following us. It never occurred that we missed a step until we saw the SUV barreling up behind us. I immediately grabbed both my cell phones and started waving them. (the two cell phones is another story) Then all of the teenagers started waving their phones. And finally, the kids started waving all their glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets. For the rest of the night, we waved our cell phones to act as brake lights for the wagon. I don't think my dad ever turned around to see if we were still back there or even realized we had no tail lights.

Once we ride for what seems like hours, we return to the warm fire. Where the people who are left get bored and throw everything they can find on the fire. It's usually huge and you can barely stand next to it because it is so hot. The kind of hot that you feel your eye lashes melting. Everyone grabs a stick (that dad graciously cuts before everyone arrives, they are really switches for Aidan and Atticus) and roasts hot dogs and smores. It never fails we have the same discussion each year on how you like your hot dog - warm, slightly burned or just plain black, where you catch it on fire and blot it out! Then once you get your hot dog, you go get a bowl of chili. Then its the discussion on whether chili should have noodles in it or not. I still don't know the answer to that one.

Mom always has games for the kids and well, adults - we end up playing too. This year she had a new game. At Easter, they had glow in the dark eggs on clearance. I think you got a bag of 20 eggs for a quarter. Well, mom bought everything that was left. Probably 20 bags or so. My job was to hide the glow in the dark eggs that she failed to take out of the package to charge up so they would glow. They had a faint "glimmer". My sister and I hid the eggs all around their property. Mom called all the kids together and gave them a flashlight to go find the eggs. For some reason, the adults and teenagers partnered with the kids to help them. Off everyone went with flashlights trying to find the eggs. Adults were tripping each other, pushing others out of the way and stealing flashlights to find these eggs. Once most of the eggs were found, mom announced that there was a prize egg. Everyone started going through their eggs to see if they won. No one had the prize egg. Mom looks at me and asked - where did you hide the prize egg? I had to idea there was a prize egg. Some of those eggs I just opened the bag and spread them like fertilizer. I think mom is still looking for the prize egg.

I can sit here and tell you more and more stories from the festivities but I will begin to bore you. In fact, if you made it this far, you are either one of my BFFs and feel sorry for me or you have insomnia!