Field Trip as a Mama!

Last year I sent Brian to go with Jaxon on his first ever field trip. This year, I promised I would go with him.

So, off to Apple Annie's we went last week. We had a great time! It is so fun to watch Jaxon with his friends. He is quite the social butterfly and has many friends at school. He seems to be a pretty popular guy at the preschool. It warms my heart.

We spent an hour and a half on the bus and these two little guys were so well behaved! I was shocked. I had just gone on a field trip with my kindergartners and had to tell the kids no less than 10 times on a half hour drive to sit down. These two? I think I only told them once. Nice!

Can I tell you how proud of me I was? I actually dressed myself and Jaxon appropriately for the cool, windy weather. Many people were not prepared. Go me!

Finally. The pumpkin patch!

After looking at what seemed like hundreds of pumpkins, we settled on a smallish one we could carry.

 Yes, we settled. Jaxon's pumpkin was quite lopsided, but hey, I had to carry two pumpkins. No way were were going for 2 perfectly round, big pumpkins.

Once we got back on the wagon, Jaxon ditched me for Ms. Courtney. Yeah. I'm chopped liver when Ms. Courtney is around. It's a good thing I like her.

After lunch the kids played in the corn box. I think we brought back enough corn kernels to begin our own corn maze.

Being the parent on a field trip was definitely better than being the teacher! No clipboards, money to handle, class lists, groups to manage. Yeah. I'll take being the parent any day. 

Apple Annie's Orchard

Jaxon went on his first-ever school field trip this week! He was so very excited! Like I said the other day, I was unable to go with him, but Brian stepped up to the challenge! 

The original plan was for Brian & Jaxon to follow the bus to the orchard. As we got closer to the field trip, Brian wanted to just meet the class at Apple Annie's. Being the teacher that I am, I was not liking this idea. Do you have any idea how stressful that is as a teacher to have a parent and child MEET you there? Ugh. I also know how exciting it is for the kids the morning of the field trip. There is just this cool excitement that goes on. I didn't want Jaxon to miss out on the atmosphere. Then the day before I asked Jaxon if he'd like to ride the bus. Of course he said yes! Oh this made me nervous too, putting my BABY on a BIG bus without one of his parents? Then Brian said he would just leave from our house to the orchard. He didn't even want to follow the bus! Oh dear. I made him promise to text me the minute he saw Jaxon. Yeah, he thought and told me I was neurotic, but this is my little boy we're talking about!

 Well, I had no choice but to put my big girl chonies on and give Jaxon some freedom. We went over and over it... You are going on a BIG bus WITHOUT Mama or Daddy. You must sit on your bottom and listen to your teachers. "Yes Mommy, I will brave." He kept telling me. 

I dropped him off in his classroom, gave him a few extra hugs & kisses and tried not to show Jax how anxious I was. I'm not going to lie, I got back to my classroom and shed a tear or two. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones right? 

Maggie, my parapro, was so sweet. She kept telling me she'd take over the class if I wanted to walk him to the bus. That would be worse I thought for Jaxon. Once he saw me I thought he'd cry when I didn't get on the bus with him. I mean, I can't be on playground while he's out there without stopping by to give him a hug and standing near him for awhile. 

So I was a wreck until Brian called and left me this message... "We made it to the orchard. I am holding Jaxon's hand and we are headed to pick apples?" Whew. I breathed a sigh of relief. 

Thank God I charged the camera battery and gave Brian explicit directions to take LOTS of pictures! Well, he didn't do too bad.

Jaxon's favorite thing was to choose an apple, chomp on it for awhile then throw it on the ground. His favorite apple by far were the Sour Apples. He said to me, "The sour apples were so good. I tried a Golden Delicious and it was yuck so I threw it on the ground. The sour ones were good!"
Despite my worrying the field trip was a success and everyone survived!