Nathan Wendt

Time to admit our little boy is not so little anymore. In fact yesterday was his 7th birthday. I tell him all the time that it seems like just a few days ago that he was wobbling around the room just learning to walk and needing his diaper changed a dozen times a day. Now of course the big accomplishments are a lot different. From good manners to good reading skills our expectations change with each passing year.

The birthday party was great fun and filled with lots of happy shouts from the birthday boy as he unwrapped present after present. I think the big hit this year was a Star Wars Lego kit from his Grandma and Grandpa French. The kit was so big it included two very lengthy assembly guides and I would imagine it will take several days to put together. Of course Nate could not wait to get started.

One funny gift unwrapping scene concurred with a computer game I gave Nate. The tile of the game was “Theatre of War”. When Nate opened it the graphics on the box were enough to make him smile and proclaim his approval with the cry of “Cool!”. However when he read that title nothing even close to the word “Theatre” came out of his mouth. After hearing this 10 year old cousin asked “What’s in there?”, and Nate responded with a shrug, to which the cousin suggested “Well I bet it’s full of a whole bunch of war”. This made them both happy.

After some great cake and ice cream Nate was asked to take his now traditional stand in front of his bedroom door to have his height marked. He had grown another three inches since last year. Even this prompted the memory of how it just seemed like days ago when the poor little fellow had no legs at all and 75% of his little body was upper torso. Now our little boy is a well proportioned “long legged galoot”. To be exact on his 7th birthday the “little guy” is a ginormious 4 foot and 4-1/2 inches tall.

Happy birthday buddy – We love you so much!

A few months back Nathan came home from school and told us he wanted to join the Cub Scouts. After attending a few meetings he stuck to it and now Pack 28 has another Tiger Cub, my son Nathan Wendt. Last weekend the pack had their first monthly outing since Nathan joined. The outing was a visit to Toms Maze in Germantown, Ohio. It was about a 20 minute drive out into the country and when we arrived around 4:30 the parking lot was perhaps at only one tenth of capacity. We met up with the rest of the pack members and the nice Cub Scout lady, Elizabeth, who went to Madison with Nate’s mom, was there passing out the tickets and keeping things organized.

Of course they sold all sorts of Halloween things there, such as pumpkins, gourds, and other nick knacks. The setting sun made for a few god shots of the produce with the old digital camera we bought when Nate was born.

After getting our tickets from Elizabeth we walked on back to the camp site the pack had reserved. There a dozen or so scouts and parents were gathered around a camp fire roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. After a few hot dogs and marshmallows were finished off we headed to the maze.

The maze itself consists of roughly 3 miles of trials cut out of an 8 acre corn felid. The point of the maze was not simply to find your way in and out, but rather to find 12 camouflaged mail boxes set in with the corn. Each mailbox contained a piece of a map. Once all the pieces were collected you then had a complete map of the maze. Simple, fun, and only about 30 minute’s worth of walking.

Also worth mentioning is the “pumpkin gun” they fire off every hour. To picture this you need to start out by imagining an old fire truck from the 60’s. Then imagine its got a 16 foot 8 inch pipe for a cannon on top of it. The cannon was operated from an air compressor that filled a giant tank on the back of the truck. Once the thing was under full pressure it could launch a pumpkin about 1/2 a mile. Which I most certainly believe as I quickly lost sight of the pumpkin as it headed skyward. From the sounds of the crowd it took about a full 5 seconds or more to make impact. At night I am told they use a “glow in the dark pumkin” for an extra special crowd pleasing effect.

Not sure if a corn maze is worth a visit every year, but Toms Maze was very nice and well kept, and certainly worth the visit this year. Should the pack go back next year I would gladly take Nathan.