Field Trip

My kids’ first field trip was yesterday, and I volunteered to drive and chaperone! Yay Super Mom!

Normally for such a first, I would have gotten out of bed a touch earlier, had a hearty breakfast with the kids – similar to this:

Instead of the turkey, perhaps a bowl of oats and bananas or something uber healthy! I would have also left myself some time to clean out the car knowing others may be riding with me.

What actually happened: woke up late, had coffee, scrambled for breakfast, no time for a shower so hair went automatically up into a mom-pony. Crap! Laundry wasn’t done (it needed a second tour of the washing machine. Again.) So, I did what every self-respecting person does and surveyed the dirty hamper for the least dirty pair of yoga pants. And put them on.

More like this:

Running a bit late due to a teeth-brushing fiasco, kids get in and buckled, our favorite song is selected and started, I realize I haven’t cleaned out the car and there really isn’t time to do so. I am a pretty organized person most of the time. I will confess that since I have had kids, I have become a car slob. My daughter never has less than 2 pair of shoes on the floor under her seat with at least 3 pairs of socks. My poor Hawaiian baby’s little tush hits her seat and the socks and shoes are immediately dumped!

I sigh, “Oh, well.” under my breath as we head off to school. Getting the kids to class, there are booster seats with lists of who will drive with whom. I scan the lists and find my name. And directly under it are my kids and one other student.

And the teacher. (Cue doom music here.)

Of all the mornings to wake up late and not clean out the car! Ugh! So I quickly drop the kids in their room and race to the car to clean out the apple core, the banana peel and random papers that have collected from the door pockets that we call “car garbages”. (Side note: the banana peel and apple core were from that morning, not rotting from weeks of sitting in the car. I’m not that gross!)

Luckily I had just enough time to toss the garbage and get the seats in and ready to transport minions and a teacher to our destination: the library! We pile in the car and off we go. Are other people intimidated by their kids’ teachers? Maybe it’s just me. As parents it’s natural to want teachers to like our kids. I want her to know I’m a good parent. (Until the minions throw me under the bus with comments like “Hey mom! I tooted!”) Yes, that happened. Oh, and I almost ran over a cyclist in a cross walk. I was charming and we laughed it off though, “Oh sure, have the teacher in the car on the first preschool field trip and run someone over!” I really do like our kids’ teacher, and not just because she laughed at my jokes. It did earn her bonus points, though.

The kids were all adorable, and remarkably well-behaved. It was a blast (despite my near wreck and bomb of a car) and I’m so glad I have the opportunity to do these kinds of things with our kids. I know not everyone chooses this path and there is no judgment here, but I loved being able to stand back and watch the kiddos in their environment and have no agenda. All I had to do was stand back, watch and enjoy.

So I did.