Trippin'

My two youngest girls left this morning with their 3rd grade classes to go on a field trip to Columbia. I felt so weird as I dropped them off, because I do love me some field trips. There was a time in my life that if my kids were going on a field trip, I was THAT mom. I wanted to be there right in the midst of them, and I sure did enjoy those days.

With my oldest daughter, my favorite field trip memory is when we went to Charleston. We went with the school group, and I was in charge of a group of spirited, yet not very bright, 4th grade girls. Two funny thing stand out to me about that trip. Now take it, we live only a couple of hours from Charleston. That night, as we settled into our motel room, one of the girls called her mom. The end of the conversation I could hear went something like this... "Hey mama..... Yes... I miss you too.... it's so much fun here, and pretty too... Mama, it's 9 o'clock here. What time is it there?" Yep, for the love of all that is holy, she asked that. I suddenly had to go to the bathroom and laugh my butt off. Not the sharpest spoon in the drawer, huh?

The next thing about that trip is how I wanted to liven up what seemed to be a boring visit to a retired naval vessel there in the harbor. The girls were complaining, tired, and just plain done with the whole thing when we entered this "special" hallway. There were windows along the hallway that were motion sensored, and when you walked by it would tell you an interesting fact. I called the girls back to the beginning of the hallway, excited about this bright idea I had. "Okay girls. Here's what we're going to do.... We are going to count to three and run as hard as we can down this hall and make all of these things talk at the same time! One, two, three!" Screaming and running, we flew through the hallway to the other end, and as I burst out of the door, I heard a teacher saying, "What in the??" before she realized.... I was a grown up. Oops. They never asked me to go anywhere again, but that sure was fun.

Another wonderful field trip memory that I have is also Charleston, and it's with my next oldest daughter. She is what I would call my middle child, being stuck between my oldest and the twins. I hate to stereotype her, but she does have that sweet, calm, peacemaker spirit of the typical middle child. Our trip to Charleston was taken without her class, but we did go with another mother and daughter. We went at the same time as her class, but we made our schedule so that we wouldn't be caught in the crowd of students. That was, in my memory, one of the most relaxing trips I have ever taken, even though the other little girl with us was quite unhappy the entire time. I just remember how wonderful it was to have time with just Lauren, and I remember how beautiful her little smiling face looked when she was gazing out over the harbour. It was like our bond doubled during those two days, at least to me, and her sweet spirit just touched me and calmed me. No crazy running or dumb phone calls. Just peace, relaxation, and enjoyment.

Finally, the greatest trip that I've taken with my twins to this date is to the South Carolina State Fair. They were scheduled to sing there with their honor choir, and I had to take a day off of work to be able to go. It was so totally worth it. Again, I was in charge of a group of 3rd and 4th grade girls. They were such a joy! We were all over that place, and we rode every ride we could get on at least once. One little girl was scared of the ginormous ferris wheel, but with a little encouragement from me she said, "I'll go, but I might throw up." Thank the Lord, she didn't throw up, and we had an amazing, exhausting day!

I could go on all day about trips that I've enjoyed and crazy things I've done. Field trips, day trips, road trips, plane trips, business trips, family trips, mission trips.... I feel more stories coming on!! In fact, I'm trippin' this Summer to West Virginia (MISSION TRIP!!!) and Chicago (visit the Navy boyfriend of my daughter trip!!!) Anyway, if you plan on trippin' and want to take along a little entertainment in case of being bored, or a little calming influence in case it may be stressful, I'm always up for a trip!