Field Tripping

From July 31 – Aug 4……

Most nights during summer we’ll head to the greenway or the park or play outside.  On this night we headed to Smith Park to hike.  Abbi wanted to go to the playground.  If Abbi isn’t happy, no one is happy.

“My legs are so busy………I can’t walk………….”

So she ended up being a backpack on our walk.

For the last week of summer break Lilli was at the Y for a camp on the arts (dance, art, music, etc) and her friends Kelly and Elizabeth, as well as some others, were there.  One night after camp we met up with their mom for some swim time.  Somehow it was the first time all summer we’d had a swim date! The Y shortened its hours an entire hour every night this year – and we really didn’t get to go the pool nearly as much as a result.  And it was chilly this night, so Abbi wanted nothing to do with the pool.

Abbi was there, just not in the pool.  And it was so chilly we had the place to ourselves.

A few weeks earlier Abbi had told us her class would be going on a field trip to the zoo.  They’d been studying about animals, but we didn’t really think they’d go on a field trip since it would involve a lot of parental help with car seats, driving, etc.  But, we were wrong.  The permission slip came home and she basically “told us so”.  I signed up to go because I didn’t want to miss her very first field trip.

They were all SO excited.  A lot of parents ended up going, so I was only assigned Abbi and Piper, and her teacher Miss Rachel rode with us so basically she and I just had those two! We were free to explore the zoo for the morning, and for a while several of us tried to stay together.

That’s Mr Colin, one of the teachers, Adelyn, Abbi, and Piper, with Stella and Nina in front.  The girls were arm in arm and absolutely on Cloud Nine.

Abbi and Miss Rachel.  She loves Miss Rachel and Miss Rachel always makes drop off anxiety better in the mornings!

All starting at some birds.  They were so cute.  Abbi’s class and the kids who had just finished Pre K and were about to leave for kindergarten went.

I’ve never gotten to pet one of the kangaroos – there were two on the sidewalk for petting and both of them hopped off right as we got up to them.

And then finally – success! This one wasn’t going anywhere!

My first time petting a kangaroo!

Success!

We finally got back to the new spider monkey area.  We had no idea there was this fun new rope bridge!

We packed picnic lunches and ate before heading back.  The kids were all so good and we had so much fun.  They were starting to get tired so it was just the right amount of time.  Piper was a great buddy to have in our car, she’s so sweet and a good kid.  She’ll also be going to our same elementary school, along with one little boy in Abbi’s class, so we’re excited she’ll already know some friends.

Odd little dog.  Just staring at the wall……

That night Lilli went home with Kelly from camp and had a sleep over, so we took Abbi out to dinner at Noodles.  She’d worked up an appetite on her field trip!

And then we took her to Gigis for her very first giant Gigis cupcake!