Fifth Grade Field Trip

It was a big day in fifth grade.  It was the all-day field trip to Salt Lake to visit both the Natural History Museum (a terrific museum!) and the state capitol.  Blythe has been excited about going, and I have been excited to be a chaperone.  A week or so ago, she brought home a permission slip which had a space to check either, "Yes, I will accompany my child," or "No, I will not accompany my child."  She had checked the "No" portion, and just wanted me to sign that she could go.  

"Blythe," I said, "why did you check, 'No'?  I would like to be a chaperone.  I like to participate in your school activities when I can.  What's the problem."

She rolled her eyes at me and said, "I don't want you to come.  You'll embarrass me."

Eye roll from me.  I know parents embarrass their children, but I'm not a ridiculous parent.  I don't burst into song or wear silly hats or try to act cool.  I pointed all this out, and then changed the answer to "Yes."  When I told Kent about this exchange, he suggested that I do something really, legitimately embarrassing, like wear a squid hat.  Could we find a squid hat somewhere?

Oh yes we could!  Amazon sells a wide range of squid hats, as well as other silly haberdashery.  I bought a green squid hat with googly eyes and long tentacles that hang down the sides of your head, and prepared to be a truly embarrassing parent.  This morning, after Blythe was already downstairs and having breakfast, I came down with it on my head and announced, "I'm ready to go on the field trip!"  

Blythe took one look at me, snatched the hat off my head, threw it on the ground and seethed, "You are NOT wearing that thing!"  She was right.  I wasn't going to wear it.  But we all got a good laugh out of it.  See the hat here.

Blythe was excited about hanging out with her friends today, but sadly, she didn't really get it.  All her girly friends had their moms with them and so they were all in other groups, and Blythe ended up with three boys--Brody, Titus, and Austin.  She was a good sport about it, and seemed much happier to hang out with me rather than the boys.  Maybe I shouldn't have gone.  Oh well.  The boys weren't terrible, they were just boys, and ratio of 1:3 wasn't ideal.  I wish Mrs. Duncan had given her at least one girl. 

I was able to talk with Blythe on the way up and back on the bus, though she did read her book a bit and played on the phone.  The museum was really fantastic.  I was interested in watching what the kids wanted to see.  Austin was really into the rocks and minerals, they all wanted to see the dinosaurs, and they totally got into a special Aztec exhibit which was very interactive and educational.  The kids were all able to create an Aztec name with its own cartouche, figure out the calendar, and read about human sacrifice which the Aztecs practiced.  Good stuff!  We had lunch at the museum and nearly missed the bus.  We were at the top of the museum and didn't realize what time it was.  I felt irresponsible.

Blythe is looking for one small red bead that represents the sun in the midst of

 a bunch of yellow and blue beads that represent other stars and planets.

She found it.

From the museum, we traveled across town a bit and went to the state capitol.  We took class pictures, then had a tour.  Our guide took us into the House and Senate, the state Supreme Court, and a small was super interesting exhibit about the Trans-Continental Railroad.  They had a golden spike, the decree signed by Abraham Lincoln, a show of what a railroad worker would make in a week, and a couple of other things.  We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the joining of the rails at Promontory Point at the end of the week, May 10th.  I was glad we got to see the exhibit.

Top row: Alivia, Javier, Jose, Olivia, Elle, Slade, Brody

2nd row down: Addy, Manuel, Summer, Hailey

3rd row down: Kina, Jordan, Maddox, Rylee, Zoey, Kiara, Sierra, Blythe, Mrs. Duncan

Bottom row: Henrik, Titus, Dylan, Evan, Lauren, Ellie, Austin

Chaperones!

It was fun to be with all these moms as well as all their kids.

Mary Rencher, Barbara Lepinski, Aimee Davidson, ? me in the back,

?, Melanie Hall, Kerrie Thornock, Melanie Lundberg, Tracey Bjarnson

Mrs. Duncan took our picture.

Then she took several very silly pictures.

We had a snack, and then loaded up the buses for our drive back.  It was a fun day, I was glad I was able to go with Blythe.  I hope I didn't embarrass her too badly.