Gillian had her first field trip today.  Her class got to visit Huber Woods.  Since the trip was to a park, they allowed a lot of chaperones.  I was able to sign up (along with 12 other moms and dads).  Gillian and I got to her school this morning and we waited for all of her friends to arrive.  While we waited, her teachers put a red shirt on all the kids.  The front of the shirt had the school name and the back of the shirt said field trip.  Not only did all the kids have on a field trip shirt, but they also had wristbands that had the school name and phone number too.  Just in case the kids got separated from the group.  Finally everyone arrived and we were able to get on the bus.

Gillian was so excited.  She had never been on a school bus before.  She sat next to me and was sad that she couldn’t see out the window.  But she still had a good time singing “The wheels on the bus” with her friends.  After a short but bumpy ride, we arrived at the park.  The class got split in half and Gillian and I were put into Miss Debbie’s group.  Our first stop was pumpkin picking.  The park had a small fenced area where there were pumpkins laying on the ground for the kids to choose one.  Once again, we were split into two groups so that the kids wouldn’t trample each other.  But I am sure you can imagine, wrangling 12 three year olds is pretty close to impossible.  Luckily it didn’t take them long to choose their pumpkins and before we knew it, it was Gillian’s turn to pick one.  Gillian picked up the first one she saw.  I had to reject it, because it had a little rotten spot on the back.  She wasn’t happy with my decision, but picked a different one and I had her pose with her new pumpkin.

 

Our next stop was inside the lodge.  We learned about mammals and the park ranger asked the kids if they knew of any animals.  A couple of kids named a few.  Gillian shouted “Pigs!”  The park ranger then started to tell the kids about flying squirrels and how they really don’t fly, that they just glide from tree to tree.  The ranger said “Wouldn’t it be cool to be a flying squirrel?  You get to jump from tree to tree looking for food!”  Gillian shouted “NO!”  Got to love her honesty.  The kids then made a flying squirrel glider and we got to go back outside and try them out. 

The next stop was to a classroom.  We got to meet a few of the animals that are at the park.  We learned about snakes and got to see three of them.  All the kids kept asking if they could touch the snakes, but not Gillian.  “I not going to touch them!”  After the snakes, the ranger took out two box turtles.  One was named Scooter and the other was Rosie.  Gillian heard the names and said loudly “Just like you Mommy!”  Scooter was a fast turtle and ran across the room.  Again, Gillian said “I no touch them!”  The ranger was telling us more about the turtles and she took out a paper towel to hold under Scooter.  She told the group “He needs a diaper.  I like to call him Sir Poops-a-lot!”  The kids thought this was hilarious (this was also one thing that Gillian told John about her trip). 

Our last stop was a hay ride.  The kids loved the hayride.  They all said “It’s so bumpy!”  By the time we were done with our tour of the park, a lot of the kids had droopy eyes and looked like they were going to fall asleep.  It was a great morning.  I am so glad I got to spend it with my little lady.