Hayride!

Yesterday, J.P., Jude and I went to Tom White's farm in Dickson for their annual Halloween Party/Chili Cook-off.  A few years ago, Tom (Jude's uncle) bought a cabin on 12 acres or so, just on the Dickson County side of the county line.  Over time, he bought a couple of parcels of land from neighbors, as well as a barn he's totally renovated.  Now, he owns about 80 acres (I think) that's adjacent to a creek.  It's really a nice spread and we love going out there.

The highlight of the afternoon, for J.P., turned out to be the hayride.  In the past, he's had what seems to be an irrational fear of hayrides, which is strange, because he loves tractors.  Last year, at the same party, he flat refused to go on the hayride.  A few weeks ago, at Genry Farm in Franklin, he wouldn't get on the hayride.  Then, at "Ghouls at Grassmere" (Halloween at the Nashville Zoo), he again refused to go on the hayride.

When Tom's friend, Bud, drove the tractor down to the barn for the first hayride, J.P. climbed aboard the trailer full of hay bales with Jude and her grandmother, although he wasn't very happy about it.  I climbed up and sat next to J.P. and Jude's dad sat down next to me.  As the tractor started forward with a lurch, J.P. whimpered a little bit and held onto to Jude a little tighter.  Pretty quickly, though, as we rode slowly around the farm, he perked up and started smiling, laughing and pointing at different things he saw.  Later, he said, "I told you it would be fun, Mommy."  Right.

J.P. adores Bud, having met him at the party last year.  As the hayride ended, J.P. asked Bud if he would  sit with us when we ate chili, like he had last year.  Much to his delight, Bud sat down and ate with us after he finished a couple more tours around the farm on the tractor.

Later, after we got home and J.P. was getting ready for bed, he couldn't stop talking about how much fun he had on the hayride.  Pretty cool.