Hayride In December!

This past weekend we had our sweet little Parker while the rest of the family went out of town. Since our attempt to see the Lights of the Neuse didn't go over so well last year we decided to try it again. We loaded up Parker then headed to pick up Cole and Ella and off we went. I knew this wouldn't be too hard to handle because all we would do is ride through the beautiful lights while sitting in our warm truck with Christmas music playing. Good plan I thought. Well as soon as we arrived I knew something was different because we had to park to get the tickets. "What's going on with this, " I thought. Lewis went up to the ticket booth and returns to inform me that you no longer ride through in your vehicle now you have to go on a hayride through the lights! Well that's a horse of a different color because now we have to get a 2,3,&4 year old all bundled up and wait for 15 minutes because we JUST missed the ride! Mean while I didn't even bother to wear a coat because I knew I would not be outside, yea right! Luckily we had brought lots of clothes for the kids just in case we had to get out of the truck to get a picture with Santa. Finally the tractor comes back around and we load up, with all three kids dragging their blankets. We thought they could use them to cover up with but actually we spent most of the time trying to keep them from flying off the trailer. Lewis takes Cole who by this time is sneezing because of the hay. I have Parker who is trying to stand up the whole time and Ella who has her special red squeaky shoes hanging over the edge and I just know one of them is going to fall off . My ears were so cold I finally put Cole's hat on since he had on his hood and refused to wear both. I knew I looked like a goof ball but at that point I didn't really care! The ride took us through the woods where everything is dark until the tractor rides past a sensor and then things light up. Twice it even snowed on us. It really was pretty neat and the kids loved it. Afterwards we tried to get a picture with Santa but Cole was the only one who would get in the sleigh with him. He talked and talked to Santa, I'd love to know all he was telling him. Parker would give him a high five but that's as far as it would go, and Ella hid her head on Papa's shoulder the whole time. Afterwards they all wanted ice cream. ICE CREAM in freezing weather but that's exactly what we did. As we all sat in Tastee Freeze licking our cones of ice cream all they talked about was the hayride and how much fun it was. That night as I tucked Parker into bed he was still talking about it. So, would I do it again? You better believe it, only next time I WOULD remember my coat! And the one other thing I forgot, my camera! Some of those pictures would
have been priceless!

This is what I consider a good hayride.
70 degree weather! A whole lot different
than our ride Friday night!