Chapperoni!

A few weeks ago, I had the full-circle experience of a lifetime: playing chaperone for a field trip to the Denver Aquarium!

...which immediately inspired in me need to profuesly thank any and every parent, grandparent, nanny, or teacher who ever guarded me while outside the confines of my school from ages four to 17.

But really, aside from the fact that we had a 45 minute drive with a bunch of highly excitable kindergartners who had never been on a school bus before (cue squeals at every turn and quick stop) and the fact that it's really hard to keep track of a bunch of short people who keep disappearing behind some really tall aquarium displays, they were a great, well-behaved group--and it was a ton of fun!

Marie was content to ditch me and squeeze into a seat to chatter with her two friends the whole bus ride (sniff...it begins!)...

And she was the first to scout out the seahorses and starfish when we got into the aquarium--she'd been waiting all week!

We got to see a "real" thunderstorm with thunder and lighting and lots of splashing in the flash flood exhibit (sadly they all know what that means due to the recent flooding in Boulder), then we walked through tunnels under the water with sea creatures swimming all around us, and pretended to be a scuba diver like the ones in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

There was also a chance to pet the stingrays, a mermaid show with "real" mermaids (one of whom happened to be another kindergarten teacher's daughter), and--rather randomly--a tiger exhibit (???) with three hungry tigers who we got to watch during their lunch time. Yum.

The two other boys under my charge were sweet as could be, and we had fun exploring together, although I would have liked to take a lot more time to look at the animals and read all of the info for each display. I'm realizing that all the stuff that used to bore me on field trips--and certainly didn't catch their attention as they were running full speed from one display to another--actually interests me now that I'm old(er). Once again with the full-circle...sorry, former chaperones, for all the cool stuff you missed when I was busy darting around strange buildings! Guess that means we'll just have to go back as a family soon and spend some time having fun and really learning together.

Marie did incredibly well with her first field trip experience, as did the other kids, and I was proud to graduate to the role of Chapperoni and help get everyone home in one piece...I will definitely be volunteering again for future trips if I get the chance!

Also, because this is as good a post as any for a tack-on...

Look! I made a Poodle Skirt! (Just don't look too closely).

Marie's class has been focusing on one number each day since the beginning of school, and last Friday--as in the very day after Halloween-- it just happened to be their 50th day of school. So, in celebration, they had another party. The day after their Halloween Party. In which they dressed in 50s era clothing and drank root beer floats and counted to fifty lots (I presume).

Anyway, since we didn't have a whole lot of notice, but also because I'm just really good at procrastinating, it appeared that an online order of 50s garb simply would not arrive in time. The two local stores I searched had no poodle skirts despite the Halloween sales, and I didn't feel like driving to who knows how many other stores outside of my three-mile radius--with kids in tow--to hunt for a skirt with a dog on it. So I found an easy-looking tutorial (famous last words) on Pinterest and tried to refine my sewing skillz some more. Let's just say that circular hems are evil, especially if that's all the pattern is...one.giant.circle. So here is my beginner sewing wisdom to pass on to you: if it says to use felt so you don't have to finish the edges, drive yourself outside the stinking three-mile radius already to a store that will have enough yardage of felt instead of buying cotton from the closest store. For your own sanity. Otherwise you will find yourself up till midnight on Halloween Eve fighting with what is supposed to look like a circle with a nice even hem which now unfortunately looks like it belongs on a 50s scarecrow.

But hey, I'm proud of what I was able to whip up in under two hours, she was happy with it, and now we have one more item for the dress up bin! Hopefully better luck next time as I tackle (mostly) straight seams for the Christmas stockings I'm attempting...