The Joy of Field Trips

It's field trip week in our house and it might as well be Christmas. We are that excited. My son's preschool class visited the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences today and my daughter's elementary school class will visit the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) tomorrow. Why all the excitement? Well, one, who doesn't like a break from the regular school schedule, but two, it's junk day. Every other day of the school year, we pack a nutritious lunch with sandwich or entree, veggie, fruit and water. Some days you may find a cookie or a piece of leftover birthday cake, but mostly, we stick to the nutritious stuff. But Field Trip Day is a whole other experience and my kids live for this treat. We go to the store specifically to shop for lunch items and Mom cannot say no to the selections. And yes, sometimes, this is more trying than attempting to herd eighteen four-year-olds into a Discovery Zone classroom, but the outcome is just as rewarding. Because this only happens a few times each year, our eldest may take thirty minutes to pick out her items, which can be an eternity in Mom time. But I enjoy watching her weighing out her options, carefully choosing her sweets for the day and seeing our first child growing up, literally, right in front of me. And I think, one day, this might pay off for my daughter. I hope she will always choose carefully and that the end result is sweet and that yes, it was worth the wait.
Another reason for field trip excitement is I get to tag along. Ok, maybe the kids aren't excited but I LOVE these trips. A wise friend once told me the best way to learn what is happening in your kids' lives is to one, pop in during lunch time and two, drive your children whenever and wherever you can...hence, chaperoning my son's field trip today. I drove our youngest and his hilarious, sweet friend to Raleigh this morning. I learned some new riddles like, "Why did the dump truck dump his dirt on his friend?". " Because he was full of stuff." Yup, that's a keeper. And I learned riddles don't have to make sense to hit the point of hilarious, uncontrollable laughter. I learned my son thinks seafood is disgusting because seafood eats dead things and that is gross. I learned our car riders' address, her Mom's first name and that her sister is sometimes nice but she does not keep her car seat clean. I learned at the museum that dinosaurs attacking dinosaurs is not good friendship. And I learned that our sweet friend would help the hurt dinosaur but would need adult help because the tools would be "SUPER BIG!". But my favorite nugget came at the end of our ride, perhaps five minutes from drop off. The two children had been quiet but playing hand games with the wind drifting through the windows. Every once in a while I would hear a faint giggle and I wondered if they would stay awake for the last few miles. And then I heard it: "Josh," she said softly, "I know you are falling in love with me." 
"Yeah," he said, "I know." with the sweetness and sincerity only a four-year-old can articulate.
Yup, I learned a lot today but most of my education came outside of the learning institution. The joy of field trips..it's not the destination but the journey. And I plan on tagging along for quite a while.