Third Time Is Not The Charm

At least for us and the Great Vermont Corn Maze. We set out with high hopes of finishing this year, encouraging ourselves that the third time is the charm. The first year we went Hadley was a little over a year old and was starting to get fussy, so we took the emergency exit. Last year Malia was less than a month old. She slept through most of the maze, but after two hours we knew she would be waking up soon and needing to eat. The occasional downpours of rain last year also led to us to get the clue to get out faster.


We were determined this year though. After only five minutes in the maze we found the boat. For those of you who don’t know, they place a boat somewhere in the maze, which has absolutely no purpose and is not an indicator of how well you are doing.

After only seven minutes Hadley announced that she had to go pee pee. This is after we repeatedly asked her before going into the maze if she needed to go to the bathroom. We knew there was no other choice, so Hadley and Gideon headed off the path into the corn to take care of business. Hadley was delighted by her first outdoor bathroom experience and continued to talk about it throughout the rest of the maze.

We found several route markers and the “Other Bell of Frustration.” This year there were two bells of frustration, but we only found one. The novelty of the maze ended for Hadley after about an hour when she kept saying she wanted to go home. Gideon helped by carrying her on his shoulders for a while.

At two hours we knew we were nearing the end of the kids’ patience. Hadley was complaining and Malia was starting to get fussy as she was tired. We decided that this wouldn’t be our year and again took the hint to get out.

After getting out of the maze we saw the map and realized we were very near the exit twice, somehow though we kept ending up back toward the middle. We didn’t make it this year, but I think Gideon and I will try it next year without kids. Maybe that will be the secret to our success.