Field Trips

Last week I went on my first school field trip for this year. I made the mistake of going on the bus. I knew it was a mistake within the first minute of taking my seat. I had no idea fourth graders could hit the sound barrier the second they set foot in a bus.

My bad.

I WAS armed with a water bottle and some maxalt.

My salvation.

While Wannabe was sandwiched between a couple of friends laughing and giggling I spent the half hour of head-pounding torture in conversation with a couple of girls in my assigned group.

As any parent knows you can't just go on a field trip, you must LEARN something so we were handed out pencils and papers with questions to fill in and then set out on our own to find the answers. Even having a couple of girls who had been to the mine before - "hundreds of times" according to them, it was still a challenge to find a few of the answers. Wannabe and I scrambled during the movie to fill out one answer as the six-part answer was shot off in rapid succession making it difficult for him to write down fast enough in his giant hand-writing.

Still, I loved the excitement as the children showed me their favorite things, and why they love to come visit the mine again and again. I was a "newbie" which had them amped up even more giving them the opportunity to be my tour guide.

All too soon it was time to get back on the bus for another 30 minutes of jumbled up ear-shattering noises for the return ride to the school. This time though I sat with Wannabe who didn't mind being with his not-so-cool mom.

When he arrived home from school he handed me thank you cards made by my group including one from him that read as follows:

I love you mom and I thank you for leading us to wear we went and it ws fun to look at the smok and the giant hole. it was a blast. (spelling errors included)

He included a picture of a monster with sharp teeth eating a person. All of his pictures include something with sharp teeth. I'm not sure if I was the one being eaten and I'm a little afraid to ask.

I'm pretty sure that if it was Smiley who drew the picture it would definitely be me being eaten because he has been in the doghouse lately and probably wishes that a monster would eat me. No such luck. He is stuck with a mom who is actually trying to teach him to make good choices and doling out the consequences when he doesn't. Poor kid.

Overall it was a great day and I hope to go on many more field trips with my kids. I'll just remember to drive myself there next time. :)