Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Field Trippin'

When Chi went into K-5, I vowed that I would chaperone at least one field trip a year so long as she deemed it was "cool" for Mommy to attend.  Since then, I've chaperoned for a trip to a science museum, a puppet show performance, and a field day.  (And I should make it known that I haven't asked her if she wanted me to tag-along since that very first trip...)

Never would I have thought that Ya's 2-year-old class, God's Superstars, would be venturing out of their school, too.  But his teacher is determined that her class experience everything that the older kids do, so she pleaded for a Fall excursion to the pumpkin patch.  I took a personal day from work and joined two other parents and Mrs. M in escourting the GS babes to "Pumpkin Playground."

Here's my day playing hooky -- I mean chaperone:
Morning devotion includes singing "The B - I -B - L - E, that's the book for me..."  The kids make their hands into Bibles and jump, clap, and cheer on the last "Bible!"
the Bible

Ya, aka ChooChoo, is known for dropping down on all fours and hollering "All Aboard!" as though he were waiting for a rider.  When he got the pop blocks, his creation was, of course, a train.  "Choo, choo!"
making train

Next came a short review of colors and a worksheet for filling in between the lines [a time staller, as the Asst. Director/Bus Driver was late in preparation].  Ya decided blue was suitable for his dog and the vet.  Or maybe he let the brown crayon roll away before he finished...
workin

Pumpkin Land was really just a playground with several oversized slides.  This one was so slick and steep, that the first little girl we sent down it flew about two feet away from the slide's end!  Ya saw her (totally unphased) landing and insisted he have someone catch him.
superslide

We road on a tractor wagon - a hayride sans hay - through a wooded area with a graveyard and costumed things designed to spook.
grave-hayride

Then the kids were off!
ride em

Lunch consisted of turkey on wheat with mayonaisse, slightly boiled carrots, orange slices, and Sun chips.  Before eating, each child bowed his head for prayer.  Ya says, "God is good. AMEN."
prayer

I thought it would be fun to ride down the hill in the Tumble Tubes.  Ya didn't agree.  He let me push him up the hill once, but jumped out when it was time to send him down in a spin.  Instead, he decided to push the empty tube down the hill.  He then pushed the tube back up the hill himself... it got most of the way up before proving too heavy, when it rolled over him in a scene reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch house crushing.
push

He recovered from the flattening without a tear, and proceeded to push a smaller tube up the hill one last time.  What a trooper.

Afterward, he spun the wheel of the wooden fire truck.  He hopped out within seconds of getting into the cab.
fire truck

There were animals at the playground.  Ya is fascinated by the fowl.  I took delight in this poor goat that was determined to protect his meal by sleeping in the bowl.
protect

Ya's favorite attraction, not surprisingly, was this fabulous wooden crawl through:
burke10.18.10

And this is the only one he let share his conductor's seat - a tiny little treasure who is one month his senior:
aww

I road down the slide on a carpet with Ya, so there aren't any pictures of that... thankfully, as I know my shock at the swift drop wasn't pretty.  The kids were all over the place - except in the big mound of dirt-sand that children were digging through for treasure.  There was no way Ya or any of his classmates were getting filthy looking for equally filthy plastic spiders and such.
look

The Asst. Director rushed us to join the last performance of Mama Sunshine  - - a woman seated in front of a tee pee wearing a bright orange Native-American style outfit. Ya was allowed to beat the drum as she chanted a Halloween diddy.
drummer

The trip ended right around nap time... Ya picked out a pumpkin for himself and for Chi. 
punkin pickin

Within minutes of boarding the school's van, he was sleep.
conked

6 comments:

Mom2Isabel said...

Both of your children are just beautiful. I have to say that the BW shots of you son praying and the final one are just gorgeous.

Erika B said...

It looks like a great day! Beautiful shots. I love the black and white one of your son praying. His little hands are so cute.

Erika B

FYH said...

You do have really cute kids.
Love the shots!

Kayce said...

Amazing pictures! Amazingly beautiful!

I miss field trips now that my son is in High School and they are a thing of the past. I went on almost all of his from K-7th grade and they were the best memories! I can not wait to do it all again when our daughter starts school!

Lisa Gordon said...

Fantastic shots. He is adorable!

jeffkny said...

You have wonderful children and wonderful photos.