Jack's Field Trip!

On Friday May 31st, I got to go on a field with Jackson to the University of Washington. This was my first time ever going on a field trip with Jack. 

I didn't actually ride on the bus with him though. There was a miscommunication or something, but instead of getting 2 school buses they only got 1. That meant that the kids had to sit 3 to a seat. There was another teacher that was going to drive and I asked if I could ride with her. Being stuck on an overcrowded bus with kids that are about to hit puberty...no thanks! :) 

After dealing with traffic and finding where to park we were able to locate where the kids were. Our Planetarium show wasn't for about 20 minutes so we hung around outside and had a snack. These were my kiddos...left to right - Trevor, Freddy, Alan, Jackson, Serenity, Anna & Lizzy. 

Once it was close to being our time to go into the Planetarium we headed inside. The kids thought this pendulum was cool! 

Finally getting to go on a field trip with this handsome guy. 

Jackson sat next to Lizzy. They have liked each other for a while now. Jackson's classmates didn't know I knew that, but of course I know that...I'm his mom! She is a super sweet girl. 

This planetarium was just like the one at PSE, but thankfully meant for bigger people so my neck didn't hurt at all. The screen also didn't make me feel nauseous either so that was a plus. 

The guy that lead us through exploring our solar system did a great job. He was quite knowledgable and he never said "um"! It was very engaging and fun! It was also more geared towards exploring the planets and moons whereas Zeke's was more about exploring the stars and the constellations.

The show was about 45 minutes long, but 5 minutes before it was over a bunch of kids got up to go use the restroom. One of the teachers wanted me to go check on them so I went out there and told them to hurry and not doddle. Then I went back in and sat down. The teacher told me that I actually had to go with them and to make sure they came back. I'm so used to my responsible children that it never occurred to me that they'd do something like that. 

Once our show was finished it was time to head back out. We were on the second floor so I got a good shot of the pendulum from up above. 

Since I had been to the UW earlier in the school year with Owen's class I was familiar with my surroundings. I really wanted to take the kids and explore. But...the teacher wanted to keep us in one big group. :( SO...we decided to head over to the fountain to eat lunch, but unfortunately the fountain is being repaired so it had been drained and was all fenced off. I guess it's just the time to be repairing fountains. We found a nice patch of grass and sat down to eat our lunches. 

Earlier I had told the kids about the The Reading Room in the Library and I wanted to take them there so badly, but one of the other teachers said that the students were studying for finals so they didn't want us to take the kids up there and disturb them. Another total bummer!

We basically had to head back to the bus right after lunch, but I did talk the teacher into making one stop that was kind of along the way. 

We went to the visit The Columns. It was a short stop...just a group picture and then lets go. As we were walking back to the bus some of the boys in our group were calling out to one of the female students on campus. I told them that they were representing our school and that they needed to behave themselves. They stopped calling out to students, but they started being obnoxious with all these noises they were making. Thankfully one of the teachers came back to talk to them so they'd stop. 

We met up with the other group and then walked to the bus. I rode home with the teacher I came with and that was it. I actually felt really bummed for the kids. It could have been way more fun, but it was really lacking. I hope the 6th graders get to go to the UW again next year so I can have fun showing the kids around.