Flood of Fieldtrips

We’ve had a busy month with lots of fieldtrips and school activities for the kids.  Here’s a quick recap:

February 23: Abby had a fieldtrip to the dentist office.  She got to pretend to be a dental hygienist.  They gave her gloves and a mask and let her work the little vacuum.  She loved it.  I forgot to take my camera, so I took a picture of her when we got home.

February 23: Literacy Luau.  My feet were done for the day after going with Abby to her fieldtrip, so Nate took the kids to the school for literacy night by himself.  It was a madhouse, but the kids had fun.  They made bookmarks, danced, did a book walk, had yummy treats, and Ben was part of a little play.  They each spent $4 of their own money to buy little plastic mouth guards with flashing LED lights.  They thought their glowing mouths were pretty cool.

February 27: Ben went to the Environmental Center.  Nate and I both elected to skip this one.  Luckily our friend Tosha sent us a picture that she took.  The parts Ben liked best were cross country skiing (a complete 180 from how he felt about it two years ago) and sliding down the hill on a shovel.  He helped hollow out a snow cave and found deer poop while he was snowshoeing.

February 29: Emily’s class went Storytelling Festival at the Egyptian Theater.  Her favorite part was the “high five” story.

March 5: The fifth grade went to Junior Achievement City in Salt Lake.  This was the “worst fieldtrip ever!” according to Ben.  The bank lady wouldn’t give him enough money to buy a snack and drink so he only got a drink.  It pretty much ruined his day.  The mother hen in me wonders if he would have had a better time if Nate or I were there to help steer him along, but the rest of me says it is good for him to work through these things on his own.

March 6: Emily had her turn at the Environmental Center.  Nate and I skipped this one as well.  Luckily our friend Tosha took a couple of pictures for us . . . again.  Emily’s favorite parts were cross country skiing and seeing a bunch of deer after they snowshoed up to the top of a hill.

March 14: Abby’s preschool class went to the Treehouse Museum.  Abby got to be the little red hen in the partici-play.  It was definitely a highlight of the day.  We went from one thing to another the rest of the time.  I think she loved being the one in charge of what we did and not having to follow her brother and sisters’ lead this time.

March 15: Nate and Elise went to the first grade fieldtrip to the Environmental Center.  This was Elise’s first time and she really wanted one of us to go.  I signed up thinking my feet would be better by then, but there was no way I was up to the hike up to the lodge or going snowshoeing with the kids.  Nate was a good sport and went instead.  They went snowshoeing, climbed a rock wall, and went sledding.  The coolest part for Elise was that they saw a moose at the top of the snowshoeing hill.

March 20: The big fieldtrip in fifth grade is going skiing at Snowbasin.  Nate took the day off and went with Ben.  They had a blast together.  Ben loved riding the gondola.  Nate loved skiing at a bigger/better resort than usual.  We’ll probably stick with the $10-$12 night skiing at Wolf Mountain most of the time, but Nate is looking forward to when each of our girls is in 5^th grade so he can go on this ski trip with them too.

March 21: Ben and Emily both went to see Suessical the Musical at the junior high with their classes.  I like resourceful teachers that manage to work in extra, no-bus-needed fieldtrips during the year.  They both really liked it. 

March 29: I helped with Abby’s preschool Easter party.  We played Abby’s farm animal matching game at my station.  It was a big hit.  At the end of the party the kids got to do an Easter egg hunt on Miss Jamee’s front lawn.  Abby loved it.  I could never be a preschool teacher full time, but it is kind of fun to hang out with four and five-year-olds for an hour or two.  They say and do funny things.