Quite the Combo

Riding a bus with 60 first graders is nowhere near one of my favorite things to do. It was so LOUD! The ride to the zoo wasn't so bad because I got to sit by myself and look out the window. The weather became increasingly worse the further North we went...oh joy. We left the school with wet streets and sunny skies and drove into wet streets and cloud-filled skies and snow! It was April 24th, where was spring?!


I was in charge of 5 kids, including Whitney. I know them pretty well from working in the class room each week, but still found it kind of maddening trying to keep track of them. We explored the zoo on our own, so at least we didn't have to try to stay with a huge group of kids, but it was still crazy because there were a ton of field trips going on. I suppose it made it easier that there weren't many nonfield-trip visitors there thanks to the crazy weather.


Lunch time was a joke because we had been told to gather at the Peacock Pavilion, but apparently everyone else (meaning all the other schools) had been told the same thing...nice! The snow was coming down in hail-sized balls (though they didn't hurt), the sidewalks had become slushy so we were all getting really wet, and there was nowhere to sit! Good grief. I was laughing because it was just so insane, but a lot of the kids were shivering like crazy.


I love how this picture of the white alligator also shows Whitney's reflection (not too shabby eh?). This was the coolest animal we saw yesterday, so the kids looked at it for a whole minute. They were just flying from animal to animal. That was fine with me because I really don't enjoy lingering in smelly, crowded places (the reptile house was foul) but it was like they had somewhere to be and just had to breeze past everything.


We actually only ended up having about 2 hours at the zoo, so the time went quickly but did make me wonder if all the effort was worth it for such a short time. Not that I really wanted to stay longer, but still. The bus ride home was an exercise in mind-over-matter for me. The bus was more crowded (how?) on the way home so I ended up sitting with one of Whitney's friends and "got" to play I Spy the whole way home. Plus, the heat on the bus was cranked up high, the kids were extra loud and there was more traffic so it took longer. I thought I was going to hurl! I had to talk myself through it like "I'm fine, I'm fine, only 20 more minutes," and then "I'm okay, not sick at all, we're almost there, fresh air is coming."


Of course I had a headache by the time we got home (that burst of fresh air upon getting off the bus was heavenly), so I came home to eat some lunch (once again I had chocolate milk and Scooby snacks on the field trip) and then retired to the cozy to try to regroup. I slept for 2 hours and woke up totally disoriented and in a panic that I had forgotten to set my alarm and was supposed to be somewhere Friday morning. Alas, it was only 5:45 on Thursday evening so I was okay except that my headache had morphed into a full-on migraine #$@!. I had to take one of my precious Relpax pills and keep a pillow over my eyes until it went away an hour later.



This meant I was late for the Pinewood Derby, but fortunately Randy had gotten the kids there on time. Randy has been working on their cars and had talked with a friend who knows on the ins and outs of making a speedy car, so Landon and Whitney's cars were both the fastest. I was actually a little embarrassed because it felt like Randy's cars were winning the races, not the kids' cars (though the kids were fine with this).


This is the only Pack Meeting of the whole year that I don't mind going to so it was fun. I think they should have a Pinewood Derby for the men of the ward so they can make their own cars and get it out of their systems.

After such a crazy day it was a total treat to get the kids in bed and then get some take-out for Randy and I and then sit back and watch our Thursday shows, plus they were finally new! The contrast between being plagued with a migraine to feeling 100% better after a Relpax is staggering, I was so thankful!

**How do you feel about the zoo?
Ever seen a white alligator before?
Do you go on field trips?
Do buses make you nauseous?
Have you been to the Pinewood Derby?
Were you happy about last night's tv?**