It's Another First... Or Two

On Friday we had a couple of firsts for Drew...

1. The first field trip
2. First time riding a school bus

It was a first for Mommy too - first field trip chaperoning experience! 

Drew's TK class (he's a PM student) and the AM class combined to head out to the G&M Farms Pumpkin Patch.  There were a ton of parent volunteers to help out, but they pulled names out of the hat and I was one of 6 for Drew's afternoon class (there were 6 others for the AM class).  The first part of the fun was to get on the school bus - a first for Drew!  I think this was a big highlight for a lot of the kids.

That's Drew on the right.... to his left is the other boy I was in charge of.  So most of the pictures will have both of them.

Once we arrived the kids separated into their AM/PM classes.. and waited for the hayride which took us into the pumpkin patch.

After hearing about the pumpkin patch rules and learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin, the kids gathered for a class picture.

(Drew is on the bottom row, 2nd one in)

After that, the kids had a chance to play and do whatever they wanted.  Everyone started in the corn box.

However that was pretty short lived.  There was a group from Oakland that were older and couldn't follow directions to save their lives.  It wasn't safe for the kids in the corn box.  Drew and the other boy I was in charge of split off.  Drew went off to do the hay maze and the other guy just wanted to play on the playground.

After snacks it was time to pick out the goods.  Each kid got to pick an Indian corn and a gourd before finding their own pumpkin.

(Notice our school bus waiting for us in the background?)  I think it's been more than 20 years since I've been on one of them.

Drew and his buddy loved the pumpkin patch!

Of course they knew the rule was they had to pick a pumpkin they could carry....

But I don't think they realized that' "carry" meant going beyond being able to lift it off the ground or just putting it in the wagon.  It meant taking it to/from the school bus!

The boys both ended up trading in their pumpkins at the 11th hour.  And even then it was tough for them to carry what they'd picked - we put them in plastic bags... many of which couldn't handle the weight leading to a lot of tears from several of the kids.

But my two managed to get things under control.  That's a picture from the bus ride home.  Needless to say after spending the day with 50 kids this mama was beat!  However it was a great day and I'm so glad I was able to do it.