Sunday, October 12, 2008

Off the List

So that head cold y'all were talking about last week, yeah I got it. I woke up Saturday morning feeling oh so crabby,stuffy and downright gross! Then Heather @ EO challenged me to be "nice" to myself and post a list of things I thought I did well as a mother. Where's MY bell to ring, this poor little bunny needs her pot of vicks to sniff!

If you will recall, Saturday is the day we were going to Gertens. Our family fall tradition trip to Gertens.
Where is my VICKS!?!
It's 45 minutes in the car, there was talky. Lots and lots of talky! They know when I'm weakened. How could I possibly enforce the rules is my state. I couldn't very well yell out "STOP TALKING. The rules are when Mommy's driving NO talking." on our nice little family fun fall day. Oh, no I could not. Instead I hissed to Rob if he didn't do it I'd snap!


Has someone found the Vicks? PLULEEZZZ!
It was a sunny, lovely day. We had to wear short-sleeve shirts. That just doesn't happen here in Minnesota in October.

Normally, when we get to Gertens we find the ticket booth and purchase the all day sticker thing for $5. Unlimited fun. They only had tickets for $1 each and EVERYTHING cost a ticket each time. Hayrides were 2 tickets a piece and adults had to pay too. I even heard a very wise 11 year old say "THIS IS A RIPOFF MA. LAST YEAR IT WAS ONLY $5!"

As I said very wise boy.


It also seemed to me to be less "done up" then years past. There were always these pretty places to sit and have your picture taken. And I have to say the apples were disappointing. We spent way more money then we had planned to and we didn't even get pumpkins! I blame the darn Spooky walk.

The kids went through it 4 times a piece at $1 a crack.

Face painting $2.00


I am taking Rachel's advice and writing a letter. It was just expensive. We will try again for Christmas, but I'm telling you now, If the REAL Santa isn't there, snow is, literally, going to fly out of my butt!
I asked Hubby what he thought. Did I just have too high of expectations?
"No, they definitely raised the prices. and I don't think it should have been that everything needed a ticket..." (He's a genius folks!)

What kills me is that Linders (another garden place) and Bachmens also offer fall fun family days. We could have gone to one so much closer to home. So not only did we pay for the "fun" we double payed for the gas.

I asked a guy on our hayride to take a picture of us. He had a nice camera of his own, I thought ok this guy knows what he's doing right? He was OBESSED with putting on my flash. Hey Buddy, it's blistering sunny out, you don't need a flash. He wouldn't take the picture until he got the flash to work. (Why fight em he had the nicer camera?)

Great we look like vampires burning up in the sun! We don't need a flash, come on man!

Oh, I need my pot of vicks!

Gertens has now been bumped off our family fall tradition list. They could give me a free pumpkin and I still wouldn't go back. I'd need lifetime free spooky walks and hayrides for that!

Here are some of the things we didn't have to pay to look at.



At the end of the day I did get a good family shot. Which we all know if you didn't get a picture of it it's not a real memory. I love the sign caution drowning hazard! They must be talking about my netti pot.

Which I am going to go attempt right now, my head is killing me and I'm sure you've had enough. Good thing I didn't charge you a ticket for all this fun!

10 comments:

  1. Bummer! That was a ripoff for sure. Oh well, now you know for next time. Sorry you were feeling sick too...I'm sure that didn't help your irritation. I had to laugh, though, at the silly guy who wanted to use the flash. Who uses the flash when it's sunny out??

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  2. Great fall pictures! I really love the family one! Hope you are feeling better!

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  3. For sure you should write a letter. I would be incredibly surprised if they didn't attempt to rectify it. We had a similar experience at our favorite pumpkin patch in Wisconsin last year... such a bummer when you're so looking forward to it. Maybe you could photoshop a pumpkin over the impending death sign? LOL. FEEL BETTER! Blessings, Whitney

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  4. Yes, pictures are a must for memories, especially as my brain gets fuller and older. Still looks like a very fun day despite the prices, but that stinks that they would do that at such a family place.

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  5. At Gertens we are constantly trying to improve our events. Of coarse setting up an event like this has costs for Gertens. After reviewing our previous fall events we were not breaking even, not even close As a responsible company we have to break even or make a fair profit, we owe that to you the customer, our vendors and our employees, we want to be around for Generations to come.Which is not easy in this retail environment.(WAL-MART HOME DEOPT) Although the Fees were higher we still tried to add great value. Were else do you find a well run fall event with great staff? Don't forget to join our email garden club, those Gerten groupies had all sorts of free tickets for the event sent to them! Oh yes and Santa (The Best in Town) will be here again and even though his invoice is in the thousands$$ Gertens will not be charging a fee to visit him, as we all know it's not always about the money.... but sometimes we have to charge fees so we will all be here next year for you. Nice blog too, look me up next time you visit Gertens.
    Dale k

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  6. sounds like you had an expensively fun family day! but hey you did get some nice photos , well the one with the bright flash , is well... bright ! :0) i love your new header! and i'm sending you virtual vicks and chicken soup! feel better soon friend!
    blessings

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  7. Sara it was so nice to talk to you sorry for the ramble on your blog site, everyone thats blogging with you seem so nice and perfect Gerten customers!! I didn't want all of you to think badly of us as some huge corporation ripping people off willy nilly.
    See you with Santa.
    Best.
    Dale K

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  8. It was so entertaining to read this and then see the comments left by Dale. :)
    I do hope you are feeling better. it is so hard when youi don't feel well and still must be a mommy. :) We don't get sick days do we?? :)
    Thank you so much for your kind words on my blog. My smile is returning and it is so helpful to know I am not alone. I am so my own worst critic. :)
    Thanks for being a friend!

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  9. aww poor thing. you should have had your face painted at least! ;o) hope you feel better. and those cute kids look like they had fun no matter what!

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  10. LOL this post is hilarious!

    I wish we had stuff like this nearby. We do have a lights festival in City Park each Christmas but it kinda zaps the Christmas spirit when people are wearing shorts and t-shirts.

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