Nothing Says "Fall" Like a Corn Maze

Posted On September 16, 2008

Last night my good friend Jody invited us to the Harvest Moon Corn Maze at Geisler Farms. If you are anywhere in the Central Iowa area, you definitely need to put this on your to-do list this fall! It was like the definition of fall, all wrapped up like a present and tied with a corn-husk bow.

First of all, I must say that Jody has the nicest friends! Many of them were from her church, and some of them she had just met, but they were all extremely friendly and inviting. (Yeah, and as a sidenote, I am soooo tired of the media categorizing Christians as “judgmental” and “rigid” and “selfish.” The nicest AND MOST ACCEPTING people I have ever met in my adult life have been Christians who—gasp!—lean to the right! OK, I will now step down from my soapbox. There, I’m off.) EVEN got to meet—finally!—my bloggy friend Melody from Three Boys and a Dog! Not only Melody, but her husband and two of the three boys as well! She was just as sweet and funny in person, and her family was very nice as well. In fact, Boy #3 had the most fun playing with Melody’s boys in the “corn box” (Picture a huge sandbox, but filled with dried feed corn instead of sand.).

Jody reserved a fire pit for our group, and we roasted hot dogs and chowed on delicious taco soup and hamburger/cheese/rotel dip, my favorite! Oh, and I cannot forget the s’mores! (Although I DID make Husband angry when I made his s’more. Apparently, I didn’t put the roasted marshmallow with the chocolate fast enough, and the chocolate DID NOT MELT! Really, he was very irritated with me! Who knew that unmelted chocolate was one of his biggest pet peeves? Man, 18 years together and we’re STILL getting to know each other! He did finally get over it, after I saw him go over and make himself another one…But lesson learned—never make Hubby a s’more again!)

The kids played on some super-fun playground equipment, including a wooden playset, a humongo tire swing that I swear about 75 kids were on at the same time, and a “rodeo golf” or “ladder ball” (whatever you call it in your neck of the woods) game.

Then, as the moon rose over the horizon, it was time for the corn maze. The theme was “Vote 2008,” of course, and we navigated through the maze in the shape of a donkey and elephant. Well, I shouldn’t say “we” navigated through the maze because I didn’t even understand how to follow the map. I was content being a “follower,” even when Husband got us completely lost! At one point, we were following a “trail” that got narrower and narrower, and I realized that it was NOT a trail; we were just walking through the corn! Images of Malachi from my all-time most freaky movie growing up, Children of the Corn, kept popping into my head as we fought the corn stalks, finally reconnecting with the “real” cleared, WIDE path. (Claustrophia begone!)

Armed with flashlights and an impaired sense of direction, Husband, Boy #3, and I stumbled through the maze until we ran into another group, which included our other two children, and we tagged along with them. The kids had a great time trying to follow the map, finding each of the 10 stations, and punching their map at each point to prove they’d found it. And amazingly there were no injuries, unless you count one little boy losing his shoe. (For once, it was not one of my boys!)

After conquering the maze, Boys #1 and #2 went for a hayrack ride, while Boy #3 frolicked in the corn box. And Husband scraped the mud off Boy #3’s shoes. And I, of course, took pictures.