I don’t know if you’ve looked at the weather but it’s
raining today. In fact, it rained basically all of last night. According to the
weather forecast, it’s going to rain some every day for the rest of the week.
Not cool, right? The one solace that I can find with all of this rain in the
forecast is that it hasn’t always been rainy. In fact, around this time last
week, the weather was actually fairly decent. I know this because at that time,
I was accompanying Ethan on his K-Prep field trip to the Red Barn Farm in Weston.
While I’ve clearly had a lot of different experiences as a stay-at-home
parent, chaperoning a field trip was not among them. It’s not that I haven’t
had interest in doing so. Quite the contrary. I’ve actually thought it would be
fun to have that experience with my kids. Unfortunately, that whole pesky COVID
thing in 2020 got in the way of Ellie even having field trips in preschool. As
for kindergarten and first grade, the opportunity to chaperone a field trip
just hasn’t been there. Therefore, I was more than excited to get to have that
opportunity with Ethan.
 |
| As you can see, Ethan was unbelievably stoked about the experience. |
As part of this field trip experience, Ethan and I were responsible for getting ourselves to Red Barn Farm by 9:00 am. In addition, we were told to pack a sack lunch for the two of us to enjoy in the picnic area. Neither thing was an issue; I’m just setting the stage for everyone. Upon our arrival, we joined a large mass of humanity made up of students from Northland Christian and their parents to wait for the tour to begin. After a few minutes, all of the boys from Ethan’s class were divided up into a group with their parents and we headed off to the barnyard, led by the knowledgeable Farmer Kelsie.
Our first stop was at the horse pen where we saw the horse
(who I cannot remember the name of) who was apparently rather grumpy to be in
his pen choosing instead to stand at the far edge of his enclosure and ignore
the kids who were ready to see him. However, Ethan and his friends didn’t seem
to mind at all. In fact, they were much more interested in interacting with
each other rather than checking out the animals. No big deal though.
After seeing the horse, we made our way through the barnyard,
meeting the llamas, pig, piglets, calf, chickens, goats, ducks, and donkeys
along the way. After we had finished meeting the animals, it was time to take a
hayride to the pumpkin patch where everyone (yes, parents and kids) got the
opportunity to pick out a pumpkin to take home with them. The kids also got a
short presentation from Farmer Kelsie about how pumpkins and other plants grow,
which led us to our final stop, the Red Barn Farm’s beehive. I have to say
that it was actually pretty fun to watch the bees wander about their home and
learn all about the varying structures of a hive. The kids actually seemed
really engaged by it as well; especially when they were given a honey stick to
enjoy.
With that, our tour was concluded, and it was time to head to the picnic area for lunch. There was just one quick stop along the way: the bathroom. As there was only one other dad on the trip, the two of us drew the short straw of helping with bathroom duty which was about as chaotic and unenjoyable as one might guess. After that, we found our lunch and sat down with a group of Ethan’s friends and their parents to eat away.
Overall, I’d have to say that my first field trip experience
as a chaperone was fairly enjoyable. I always enjoy getting chances to talk
with other parents, even if I normally am in the minority. Better though was the
opportunity to get to watch Ethan interact with his peers and put faces with
the names that he talks about every Tuesday and Thursday after school.
Hopefully this is the first of many field trips to come that I get to
chaperone. We’ll have to wait and see though.
#DaddyWrite
No comments:
Post a Comment