Fieldtrip-o-rama

This year I have done the field trip tour. I have gone on a field trip with each of my school age children- an activity I have studiously avoided in the past. This came to pass because the way it works when you have multiple children is that if you do something out of the ordinary for one child the unalterable rules of parental fairness state the you must do the exact same for each of your children. So if you have 4 kids, you need to multiply whatever time, effort, money etc. you spend on one child for whatever reason by 4. I have got myself into many a pickle by not crunching the numbers before I did something like, buying the kid who happened to be with me at Barnes and Noble a book on a whim (I cannot get out of that store without buying something - I have a little problem with books). You think you are buying 1 book, which is a little extravagant but not going to break the bank. However, according to the mathematical equation previously stated, you are really buying 4 books and now your family must eat beans for a week.
So, I signed up for one field trip last year, and as of now I have been on 4. Now that I've been on all of these field trips, I have learned that I was right in avoiding them, but I was also missing out. If you think chaperoning a group of elementary children for a 5 hour outing is easy, then you are made of tougher stuff than me. I live in constant dread of losing one of them and there is always that kid in your group. You know the one. The one that jumps off a moving train and tries to climb up on the roof of a 130 year old pioneer house (all true events by the way). But, what I was missing out on was seeing my amazing kids in action and getting to spend the day with them. Last fall I went to Biz Town with Emily and got to see her run a simulated community and realize that she is going to take over the world someday. Last month I went to the Bean Museum with Brandon and got to hold hands with him for hours as we explored the amazing world of taxidermy (?). It is a little weird there, but mostly cool. The kids get a way closer look at the animals than they do at the zoo and just love it. And yesterday I got to go to This Is The Place Heritage Park with Felicity and have a pioneer experience. Felicity was my little amigo. She was great company- I love her funny observations.
I do have to tease you a little here Felicity. You should have seen your face during the square dancing when you had to partner with boys. Your face looked like you had just stepped in dog poop and smelled the bottom of your shoe. Your anti-boy campaign has been impressive and long-lived. You are unwavering in your disdain for all boys unrelated to you. Your dad and I pray that you will feel exactly this way until you are 21. We have our reasons.
I took so pics because I wanted to always remember what it was like spending the day with my 9 year old Felicity. And also, I happened to remember my camera.
Here is Felicity pulling a handcart with her friend Amelia. I really wanted to sit in it and make them pull me around the park for the day. No luck there.


Here is Felicity learning to do laundry the pioneer way. Can you tell I was loving having her take a crack at all of the pioneer chores. It kind of puts our "Saturday work day" in perspective.




So, what it comes down to is this. These field trips were frankly exhausting. But the time with my kids, seeing how they conduct themselves outside of our home, spending that time with them - absolutely priceless.