field trip

This being, like, my third chaperoning tour of duty in as many months, I think the novelty has worn off. Of course it was lovely spending the day with my kid, and fascinating as always to observe the pre-school social hierarchy in action (what's that Margaret Atwood line about 4-year olds not being child-sized to other 4-year olds - they're people-sized?), but today's excursion to Centennial Park lacked the zippitydooda-rich atmosphere of excitement I've come to expect in a field trip. Personally, I think the parent volunteers were over-scheduled: 20 minutes supervising at the splash pad; 30 minutes standing sentry in a sweltering, arid playground; 30 minutes fanning away wasps and honking geese during the bologna-on-white lunch; a whirlwind tour through the greenhouses and a 10-minute trek back to the bus stop holding the sticky hands of two complaining, completely shagged-out kids. It was a quiet ride back. And yet, still a pretty great day.

I'm sure there were many, but I remember only a handful of my own childhood field trips: exploring caves at Rockwood , horse-back riding at a teacher's farm, and a soggy weekend camping with a dozen fellow Brownies are the ones that come to mind. I'm short on details but I have glowy, happy impressions of adventure, paper bag lunches, picnic tables and playing cee cee my playmate on long, bumpy rides back home. A bit like today, I guess.

We don't have any specific plans but I'm hankering for a family field trip, so we'll see where the day takes us. Happy weekend folks.