Children of the corn?

Remember how freaky the idea of Children of the Corn was when we were younger? Just thinking about being lost in a field of corn produced spine-tingling shivers for me. So, what would possess our family to aimlessly wander in a corn field for hours on end?

A huge corn maze

When mom and dad were in town last year, we decided on a whim to drive to a local farm to try out their corn maze. We were so impressed with the maze that mom and dad have committed to an annual outing to Wisconsin to partake in the fun.

Here is an aerial shot of this year's maze.

The maze begins over by the little frog in the right hand corner of the picture. As participants, we were given one puzzle piece that outlined the how to find the first mailbox which housed the second puzzle piece. We were also given a "safety" map in case we needed to get out and couldn't devise a way to safety. Finally, we were given a challenge to find 8 poles with hole punchers hidden in obscure locations throughout the maze.

So, we began. Chris and dad worked out a system where they would plot each path specifically trying to cover each path in order to not miss a punch along the way. We instituted a "divide and conquer" strategy where each group would head in a different direction with a captain holding a map looking for the hole punches and ultimately each of the 7 mailboxes along the way.

Tirelessly, the boys would run down each undiscovered row and minute crevices to determine if the elusive hole puncher was hidden there. Mom and I merely meandered after them as we were never entrusted with a map. We were followers who were able to enjoy watching the revelry of the boys.

Without noticing it, two hours flew by and we victoriously located the final hole punch and the final puzzle piece. It is always with a bit of nostalgic hesitation that we begin to leave the maze as we have all had an amazing time. We stopped this year to climb a viewing tower that overlooks the maze before we exited.

We triumphantly swaggered to the prize table to claim our fabulous prizes of a piece of candy and a certificate certifying us as "Official Maze Masters." Mom and dad plan to proudly post theirs on their fridge right about last years.

I can't wait to play in the corn again next year.