My new book and another trip to a pumpkin patch!

Last week was not an easy week for me. It was filled with appointments and meetings. I started to feel like I was constantly jumping in and out of the car! There was that plus work on the books plus working the new job. So it was a little crazy-busy. But the good news is, I FINALLY finished working on a book I’ve been working on for 3 years! It’s finally done! YAY!

But, still, I wanted this weekend to be “fun.” Last week was just so hectic and I wanted the weekend to mean less craziness and more good times.

And you know what? It’s definitely been a weekend of good times. Even though I was bummed a party that was planned for the weekend got postponed. The weekend turned out to be pretty awesome after all.

On Saturday, my novel, Shadow of Samhain, was published. YAY!! I was so very excited this book is out now. I spent the day updating my web site and doing a bit of promo work. It’s funny, but I did web site updates that morning, then I got the email that my novel was now live, so I did web site updates again! (This time, to move the novel from the “Coming soon" page to the page where all my books are.) So that was pretty cool.

Then I got a text from my friend, Kim, inviting me and the kids to go with her and her daughter to the pumpkin patch – and it was “her treat” for us. Oh, wow! I told her yes! Of course! We’d love to go! So we went today.

At the pumpkin patch, which is actually the other one out by where Jesse went last week, we got to see the animals (goats, chickens and horses) and the kids pet and fed the goats. We LOVED the goats! They were so cool! (Of course, I love horses, too, so I was glad to see them.)  We also got ice cream and then the kids got to pan for “treasure” in the mining area. I took pictures of them posing at the “old timey” buildings. We had a blast with that!

While waiting in line to ride the tractor out to the pumpkin patch, the kids wanted to play in the playground. First I chatted with my friend in line while we watched the kids play then, as the line started to move away from them, I decided to go over and keep a closer eye on the kids. Of course, the carousel was the popular thing to play on. There were so many kids on that thing! The problem was, Jesse kept climbing on and off of it. At one point, he fell off. I told him to move because he was next to the carousel but he did not move fast enough. First he was dragged away by one kid’s feet sticking out from the spinning carousel then, to my horror, kids ran right over him! “Stop! Stop!” I cried. The carousel stopped and the kids jumped off. Jennifer and I ran through them to get to where Jesse was on the ground, crying. We both checked him over to see if he was okay and I was thinking My God, what if he is seriously hurt? After he stopped crying and gathered himself together, he jumped back onto the carousel to play again. Jennifer and I exchanged knowing looks, the same looks we have after the MANY times Jesse fell, slipped, ran into something, crashed, etc., and sprang right back to life again and we both said, “He’s fine.” But, still, I made a mental note to keep an eye on him. He might have bruising or pain later on. And I guess I looked pretty freaked out because one of the dads came over to me to calm me down and assure me Jesse was fine. I nodded my thanks to him but in my mind, I still saw my 5-year-old son being trampled. Jennifer was mad at the kids for running over her little brother. After Jesse fell off the carousel again, he would not move upon my instruction so I pulled him away and decided it was time to join my friend waiting in line for the tractor ride.

Then we rode the tractor out to the pumpkin patch. (Jesse LOVED the tractor! He kept running back to the one on display and climbing on!) On the ride, Jesse started talking with a little boy wearing hearing aids. I told the mother that I am deaf and that Jesse knows sign but she shook her head and said that her son doesn't use sign language. I was curious how she was communicating with her little boy and she confirmed that he reads lips. I was concerned about this, because lipreading is not an easy skill to master and it can take years of practice to be good at lipreading (as a teen, I lipread AND signed, as I do today), so I didn't think this was a good idea for a child. As it was, I noticed how he had trouble understanding Jesse and how the mom took over the conversation. (ARGH!!!!!) I was curious why they didn't use sign language, but decided that was none of my business so I didn't say anything more about the subject. During the tractor ride, we each got pumpkins (earlier, our friend bought the kids smaller pumpkins). On the way back, the tractor came to a stop. We were all trying to figure out what was going on. After a few minutes, Jennifer signed that the tractor broke down. I panicked, thinking we were ALL going to have to walk ALL the way back with our pumpkins! Some of us were carrying HUGE pumpkins! Gah! But then Jen laughed and said/signed, "He's faking." Sure enough, the tractor started up again. Whew! I was relieved but had to chuckle over the joke. After we got back, we paid for our pumpkins. Then it was time to go.

Jesse was not exactly on his best behavior while we were at the pumpkin patch, but despite this, and despite my son getting trampled, we had a great time. It was our first time at that farm! We really enjoyed visiting there and I’m so grateful to my friend for inviting us. We have even more pumpkins in our house now (with hopefully another one coming tomorrow) and I joke we’re being invaded by pumpkins! But, hey, it’s October, and I’m glad we were able to get pumpkins from a local farm.