It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown

So, we took Max to the pumpkin patch this weekend. My mom had suggested it since I don't think of these fun kid things and don't recall having ever gone myself. It had rained for DAYS prior so I figured the place would be a muddy disaster and I was pretty much correct. There were giant puddles and mud streams everywhere and like a moth to a flame, Max was instantly drawn to them and spent most of his time trying to get his shoes as dirty as possible. The pumpkin patch had all kinds of cheesy displays with dressed up mannequins (The Wizard of Oz, really? How is this Halloween related?) and graveyards with zombie hands trying to dig their way out, but he wasn't really interested in those. He did like the chickens and stood in front of them yelling "BOK BOK" and he was excited to ride his first pony. Okay, WE were excited for him to ride his first pony, he got on and looked at us like "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" but once Jeff got him comfortable on it, he was fine.Look at meeeeeeeeeee.....I'm RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These zombies are not scaring me, lady. I'll show you scary.

The pony however, was the world's largest rip off. It was $5 per kid and they went around in a 20 ft circle FOUR WHOLE TIMES. It was over in about a minute. When they stopped it, my mom was like "wait Jeff, it isn't over" and the old man carnie running the ride was like "it's over" but either she didn't hear him or wanted him to hear her so he might one day realize he's running a total con, but either way, she said it again and he repeated "IT'S OVER, LADY!" so Jeff finally pulled him off. The other parents were throwing their money at this man like a hillbilly stripper and he was happy to take it and give them a half-ass pony ride. Well played, sir.
Um, what the hell did I do to deserve this? What is this thing?

Yeah, I've been riding for years. My next go round will be side-saddle. Lady, give the man another fiver and hand me my crop.

Aside from the ponies, he was pretty much too little for the other attractions. They had some bouncy things that I figured he would get crushed in and a little tiny train that went through the corn fields. He was really interested in the train, but as we stood and watched, Jeff and I agreed that it would come back minus one and I wasn't in the mood to go child hunting. He would probably have thrown himself off like a hobo who found his stop. They had a few playgrounds scattered around so he was pretty happy just to swing and slide.
"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
We finally made it to the pumpkins and while I don't ever buy pumpkins, I decided to go for it since we were there and all. I sent in my trusty pumpkin analyst to get the pick of the litter.
Hmmm...this looks like a good one.Let me give it a good thump, just to make sure.
Plane. Um, where was I.....Let me go ahead and get this for you, ma'am. Yep, I'll just pick this one up....Here you go. Lemme get this to the car for you. HA! He's strong but.......I was really holding it.

So, we sharing this cab fare or what? If not, you're gonna have to get out.
So I told her I wasn't paying $2 for this water. I mean come on, it's WATER. Ya know? You're awfully quiet. Is something wrong? You can tell me.

After we left, we went to grab some lunch with grandma and Maxipoo wasn't really having it. He was super fussy and I'm sure the waitress was glad to see us leave so she could clean up the chicken fingers that now littered her area. I knew he was tired because he had gotten up at 5am (really kid? REALLY?) and hadn't had a nap yet. We got him home and in bed and spent the rest of the day puttering around the house. Jeff and I had planned on some wine and perhaps a movie that night, but Max had other plans. About an hour after I put him to bed, I heard him crying. Really crying. This is unusual at this point so I went in and he was BURNING UP. I took his temp and it was almost 104! I called the DR and all we could do was try and give him something to reduce the fever. He didn't seem to have any other symptoms but I was still all HOLY CRAP SWINE FLU. We tried to put him back down but he was so fussy that he kept waking up so we finally put him in bed with us and tried to sleep. He's like a 10-legged donkey when he sleeps so Jeff and I were pretty much up all night with him. His fever lasted on and off until Sunday evening, when it finally stayed down around 100. He seems okay this morning and so far no fever so maybe it was some weird 24 hour thing. Who knows. Maybe it's the pumpkin flu.