Are You Ready for Some Football?! ...um...err...

Welllllllllll...I thought we were he was...

I guess I should preface this story with another one:

It was a dark and stormy night. 

Wait, no it wasn't. It was a sunny, September afternoon. 

I was a couple months into being a mom of 5 boys under the age of 7. And I thought to myself, 

"Self, you dumbass let's sign up the oldest two for flag football at the Y." 

Because really, it would be fun to have them learn a sport that would make their Uumpa's proud...

and to get some of that energy out running on the field, 

and push other kids for a change......just not too hard, m'kay?! 

There were practices. 

And twins in the double caravan stroller. 

And McD's french fry bribes for the middle child. 

And a crazy-eyed momma who always wonders
what in the f she got herself into.

*ahem* Me.

The practices went great! They formed lines! Took turns!
Wow! Football is fun!

Then came Game Day.

It was another beautiful fall day. 

A Sunday, because hellooooooo. It's football.  

10 seconds into the first inning period whatever game, 

the menfolk were showing these flippin' 5 year olds how to line up at the line of scrimmage or some shit. 

5 year olds.

They paired up. Crouched down. There was a ball in there somewhere. 

A whistle blew. The kids pushed to get past each other.

Someone pushed a particularly blond 5 year old.  

*ahem* Mine. 

And just like >.< THAT, 

he fell to the ground as though he'd been SHOT, 

was carried off the field, 

and was a soccer player for life. 

Until 2 weeks ago. When he asked to play football here in the new city.

There were many "Are you sure?"s and double-checking about not playing soccer.  "Dude. It's football. TACKLE football!!? As in people laying on top of you."  "I know, Mawwwwwwwwwwm. I can do it!"

Personally, I thought football would be better than baseball or soccer, cuz this boy is hard on himself when it comes to striking out or not making/stopping a goal.  Football is more fast pace...there's no time to dwell on something not happening...shake it off, move on...chest bump, and go play!  He really seemed convinced this is what he wanted to do.

So I forked out way too much friggan $$ with it being back to school time and all... the fee, got him some gear, have spent 4 nights at practice...3 of them with siblings in tow (nightmare), 2 of them with husband to help the nightmares siblings chill, and 1 night of just me.

Doing this.

I think I can handle this football mom gig.

So these practices. Just drills, running, breaking up into groups to handle 'yo bus'ness. Or whatever they do in those groups. For 2 hours. Until 8pm. Dear gawd, it's cold in Maine at 8pm in August. Can't wait for October *eyeroll*

Anywhoooooooooo. So tonight at practice came the big announcement. 

"Tomorrow is equipment assignments...then we get to start HITTING!" 

yelled the coach, and the players cheered. 

They freakin' cheered. 

Except one.

*ahem* Mine.

(you knew that was coming, huh.)

WW--Balloon Festival!

I'll post more about this on the next Maine-ly Monday!

The colors were amazing!!

and here's a funny one...

Free enemas at the splashpad...no registration required!

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

(click above for more, and to share yours!)

Maine-ly Monday: Harvest Hill Farm/Pumpkinland

I'm thinking of starting a weekly thang here called 
Maine-ly Monday...Maine Adventures of My Many Men & I.

I'll share places in Maine that we have visited. Perhaps you can enjoy them, or find them useful if you ever visit our state. 

I'm always looking for new things to do with the boys, and one day came across Harvest Hill Farms/Pumpkinland on facebook.  There were posts about their free opening day of the Field of Dreams last month, and after exploring the Harvest Hill Farms website, and seeing all the fun things for the kids to do, we were on our way.

They had me at free. ;)

I admittedly had no idea where I was going when we headed on Rte. 26. It's unchartered territory for me.  Thankfully, my trucker husband came along to help navigate.  Luckily, locating Harvest Hill isn't a needle in a haystack type mission.  Oh no.  Rolling up on the farm, it's clear that Harvest Hill IS the haystack.  I wasn't able to find the actual acreage on the website, and wouldn't dare take a guess at it, but suffice to say, Harvest Hill Farm is quite large, beautiful, and well-kept.

This is the Farm House Pizza & Deli, where wonderful treats, pizzas, and anything you can imagine is made
and sold at VERY reasonable prices.  The menu is online.

In front of the Farm House are picnic tables for dining, a swingset,  and several wooden
vehicles for the kids to climb upon. My boys could have done that all day!

 But there was so much more to see and do, that mean old momma had to drag them away for a bit.

We checked out the bulls, horses, and fed the goats (tip: BRING YOUR QUARTERS for feed!!)

That's a whole lotta bull.

Uninterested, hungry horses :)

I repeat...don't forget your quarters!...

...and hand sanitizer LOL

Then it was on to the petting barn where we visited pigs, chickens, and I think a sheep or two...

Ramp for strollers/wheelchairs. There's restrooms above the store, and that day, there was a portapotty near the barn

This pig stood as high as our 5 year olds! lol

Grady was not overly excited by his slimy nose :)

Inside the petting barn, there was also a friendly bunny to...well...pet.  And a non-smiling tween ;)

There's the pond below, and the large tent in the background for picnicking and events.
Harvest Hill recently hosted Motor Booty Affair!  (LOVE them). More events are planned, check the site.

Behind the Petting Barn is the actual FIELD of Dreams.  We greeted the growing bunny population of Cottontail Village...before the boys ran to "speak" with the ducks in the pond.

Who knew bunnies were so religious?  My husband tried to tell me they were holding "church" like on
Sons of Anarchy (we're huge fans).  LOL badass bunnies

Speaking duck.

Around the other side of the pond, as pictured below, is the Giant Slides.  It was a gorgeous day; sunny with a breeze, and just LOOK at the backdrop...Maine mountains.  This must be even more breathtaking in the fall!

Slides in the distance.

There are some great photo opps on the way to the slides.

Slides for the lil tykes.

Can you tell what these SUPER FAST slides are made from???

 Bowling alleys!  They're perfect. We all know how slippery they are in those shoes!

The walk back up the hill is a bit steep...and hard to maneuver when you've got the giggles!

 After admiring the great views, we moved on to the Pedal Kart Track, but were distracted by the sandbox and tractors...

The Pedal Kart Track.  Apparently I only took video of them, no pics.

*swoon* The view!

 Directly behind the sandbox is the Pièce de Field of Dreams résistance: The Giant Jumping Pillow.

This pic is from facebook, again, I took a bunch of video of my lil jumping beans :)

What catches your eye in the background?  A FIRETRUCK?!

 After burning some serious energy on the jumping pillow, the boys were quite excited ran to climb on the lobster boat and firetruck.  And climb they did.

Ahoy!

The large ear of corn in the background is a theatre of some sort...it wasn't open the day we were there.
There was some landwork being done past the corn...there's more coming to the Field of Dreams!

 As we made the loop back around the Field of Dreams, we met the donkeys in a Shrek-themed fenced in area, presumably used for Halloween & Pumpkinland. 

Sweet, aren't they?!

 One last trip to Cottontail Village before exiting through the Petting Barn...

And we had completed the Field of Dreams.

It was a great day! We all enjoyed the farm. And even though the day we went was free, Harvest Hill Farms Field of Dreams is completely worth the $5.00/pp on any given day.  You can pack a lunch or order from the market.  That's what we'll be doing next time.  The pizza smells and looks amazing! 

I'm VERY excited to take the boys back in the fall, to experience Pumpkinland, Corn Maze,the Fall Harvest Tour, and the beautiful fall foliage.

Oh! And Harvest Hill Farms has recently added the Lucky Strike Mining Co...where you can "mine" for gems! And since mining gems is on our bucket list of Maine things to do, we'll be able to do it on our next visit! How great is that?!

The boys are excited too! As I was compiling this post, they recalled their visit, and asked SEVERAL times when we can go back. :)

Soon, boys, very soon!