Fifth Grade Field Trip

Today Brandt and all the fifth grade had a fabulous field trip to Salt Lake.  I got to be a chaperone.  We took off on buses first thing, right after school started, and headed to the Natural History Museum of Utah.   Brandt was in a group with his friends Spencer, Jacob, and Cooper.  We rode towards the back of the bus where they all wanted to sit, and Brandt largely ignored me.  He chatted with his friends, and I chatted with mine.  Angela Richards, Brigham's mom, came along too, and she and I talked the whole ride while the kids talked among themselves.

The natural history museum is great, with lots of exhibits focused on Utah's natural history.  There was a fantastic dinosaur section with my favorite exhibit of triceratops' heads.  There was such variety I was reminded yet again about how creative God is, and how He likes variations on a theme. There were rocks and minerals, lots of Native American artifacts, preserved animals and bugs, a Lake Bonneville replica, and a botany exhibit.  They had lots of sensory exhibits you could touch, see, hear, and even smell (rotting dinosaur dinner, swamp gas, and shrubbery--Oh, my!), but nothing to taste.  We had to keep our tongues in our mouths.  I could have stayed much longer at each exhibit, but I had to keep track of my boys, so we sort of raced through.  Brandt's favorite part of the museum, in his own words, was "the Native American thing.  And the dinosaurs."  Stunning detail.  I'm going to take Brandt and Blythe back another time, during the summer.

Faux archaeological dig of a Native American dwelling. 

Brandt, Spencer, Cooper, and Jacob

Look at all those triceratops!

The guys are sitting in front of windows through which you can watch people 

working on actual dinosaur bones.  

It was cool!

This is essentially a video game exhibit where you can try and figure out how to manage water.

The boys were here the longest of any exhibit in the museum.

Brandt is playing in sandy water that earthquakes and liquefies.

 

Cooper and Brandt standing in front of a huge glass sampling exhibit of 

everything you can see in the museum.  It rises upward three stories.

We all loaded back on the buses and went to a park to eat lunch.  Although it's the middle of May, it was a very chilly day.  I had a jacket and so did Brandt, but as we sat outside in the park eating, we all wishes we had our winter coats.  There was a bit of a wind, it was overcast, and really not super comfortable to be outside.  The kids snarfed lunch and then played before we headed off to the Capitol.

Our second stop was to the Capitol building.  We got a great tour and were able to see where all three branches of the government do their thing.  We went to the State Supreme Court, the House and Senate chambers, and then went to the Governor's office and caught a brief glimpse of him as he was finishing a meeting.  It is a beautiful building which underwent an extensive four year refurbishment and retrofitting for earthquake safety which was finished in 2008.  I had never been to the Capitol and was very impressed with the craftsmanship and detail.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and made the whole experience very interesting.  Brandt's favorite part was the bathroom which he described as "completely marble except for the toilets and stuff, and the sinks."  

The Senate

Brandt's class, the tour guide, and an awfully cute face!

We rode the bus back to Provo and arrived just in time for school to be out.  It was a great day, surely one of the highlights of fifth grade.  And I was delighted I got to be with Brandt.