Tuesday, January 27, 2009

First Field Trip

Today, for the first time ever I took my two youngest children on a "field trip." Now, when my older two were younger we took TONS of field trips. We went to Lowe's Foods, Food Lion, Pizza Hut, Daylight Donuts, Subway (after this trip Emily was positive she was going to be a "sandwich artist" for years afterward), the Fire Station, the Police Station, every NC aquarium and nearly every Children's museum within a 300 mile radius. However, somehow that got lost in our day to day of living. As a Kindergarten teacher in my former life, this is something I have felt very guilty over for my youngest two children. So, a few weeks ago when I saw a field trip to Lowe's Foods I decided - "we're doing it." We were supposed to go last Tuesday but due to the snow, it was rescheduled for today. We had to be there at 10:00am. We pulled up at 9:58 - just in time for this group shot in front of the store. Alexa asks - "Mom, were you late with Emily and Owen too?" No, probably not.
We get into the store. We get hats and follow the balloon cart. The very nice lady takes us around the store looking for healthy snacks. Now, since this was our very first field trip and my older two had taken this trip years ago - they were prepping my younger on things to look for. "Be sure to touch the lobster, notice how cold the freezer it, watch the boxes get smashed, taste the kiwi, eat the cookie, scan your grocery, look at the meat grinder, etc." Well, let's just say the field trip has changed in the past 6 years. The only thing that was the same was the hat, the pencil, and looking/touching the lobster. Instead of tasting a cookie, they got an orange slice and a sandwich bag of shredded wheat.

Here is Alexa and Ian posing after the field trip. The kids had a great time going around the store with a few other kids. They enjoyed wearing the hats for the rest of the day and playing with the balloon. I did learn that they are not as bad off as I thought they were. Minus the hat, other kids and following the balloon cart, they have been on this field trip a zillion times. Over the years, I have become much more of the "everything is a field trip" kind of mom/teacher than I ever gave myself credit for. I mentioned to the lady the differences in our trips. She responded, "We have such codes and guidelines as to who can go where in the store due to safety regulations and health concerns." So, our sue happy, germophoic tendencies ruined our "behind the scenes" field trip. Oh well, taken Alexa and Ian on a field trip: CHECK!

2 comments:

Enjoying Life Together said...

Funny. Your younger two do not show any signs of being scarred from lack of "field trips". I'm fairly certain the Disney trip made up for at least 10-12 field trips! So you're close to being caught up now that Lowe's is behind you. :)

Enjoying Life Together said...

Oh yeh, thanks for taking the group photo. I had my camera in the van then forgot to hang around to take a photo. At least I'm not the only mom IN the photo. :) I snagged it for our "photo album".