February, Part 4: Preschool Field Trip

Above: On the morning of the day we left on our trip for California, Johnny had a field trip for preschool. We headed to the Museum of Natural History at Thanksgiving Point after we dropped Peter off at school because it didn't make sense to drive back home for 15 minutes only to leave again. As a result, we got to the museum really early. It was a bitterly chilly day, so we opted to stay in our van until the museum opened. Well, apparently everyone and their dog had also scheduled preschool field trips for that day too and everyone got there early. I don't know if they just got the time that the museum opened mixed up, or if their meeting time was set too early, or what. At any rate, by the time the museum opened, there were about 15 other cars parked there with loads of people waiting to go in. Besides that, I had a fun time people watching because half of those cars got out, walked to the door, realized the door was locked because the museum hadn't opened yet, thought they could wait it out by letting the kids play outside for 25 minutes until it opened...and then finally giving up and going back to their cars until the museum actually did open because it was way too cold to be waiting outside. The most entertaining moment of all was watching a carload of about five kids head back to their silver van after playing outside the museum for about five minutes only to realize that they couldn't stay outside in the cold for another half an hour. The problem? The kids forgot where their preschool leader had parked and got the silver vans mixed up and opened our van door (which for some reason I had left unlocked, which I rarely do). Jonathan looked at them in stunned surprise and they stared back at him in confused amazement. Their faces said it all..., "Who is this kid sitting in our van? Where's all of our stuff?" Ha ha ha! They didn't figure it out themselves. Their preschool teacher/leader/parent chaperon (whoever it was) had to explain it to them. One of the kids had actually tried to still get in our van even after seeing Johnny sitting there. Ha ha!

Above: Johnny was not in the mood to take pictures to document his field trip. He also wanted nothing to do with his class either. He wanted to be on his way and see his favorite parts of the museum, not wait for his classmates to keep up with him.

Above: He had a great time playing in the erosion table though. None of the kids playing around him were from his class...they were far behind and by the time they caught up with him, Johnny was ready to move on. It was surprisingly packed at the museum that morning. Lots of preschool field trips!

Above: Johnny had a great time digging for dinosaur bones in the sand too. The only problem was that the sand there is really, really wet (I hate that about the sand there). As a result, Johnny freaked out about how dirty his hands, feet, and clothes had gotten. Once he had gotten over the fun of playing in the sand and realized how messy he had become, he was a wreck. I had to pull him quickly outside--where it was snowing--put him in the van, strip him down, clean him off with wipes, bundle him in a blanket, drive him home, and then pop him in the tub to get him to completely calm down. It was a special ride home!