Bates Nut Farm 2011

Last Saturday I thought it might be fun to go to Bates as a family and frolick among the Big Macs. For some strange reason as we arrived several moods soured in our family. Sometimes I feel like my efforts to show my kids a good time are fruitless. "Are we really having a meltdown now? I mean....come on....there's huge pumpkins out there to sit on and you're upset because we're not at the pumpkin patch you wanted to choose. Seriously." More often than not, I have rational "be the parent" peptalks in my head but those aren't the words that come out. I frequently find myself stooping to their level in a fit of selfishness. Sooo....I'm learning.

Jamison was able to eventually pull through....Amy was a peach the whole time and Becca....just needed to scream it out from the tops of pumpkins. After that, she was good to go.