Collaboration
Originally uploaded by me.

Peter didn’t want me riding the bus with him to school. I compromised by getting on at a different bus stop, and not sitting with him (he was hunched under his sweatshirt hood, and I couldn’t see him anyway). As we waited to get in the school, I saw a little boy with a nosebleed, which had gone all over his face and hands–I took him into school and found a teacher who could get him into the nurse’s office.

And that was before the field trip even started.
I drank my coffee as the kids figured out the lunch situation (who had brought one, who needed one from the kitchen, etc.) and talked about the day’s plans. We eventually went out to the bus, and because the trip had officially started, Peter was no longer embarrassed to sit with me.

The drive out to the marsh took a half hour or so. A very bumpy and loud half hour. The kids were put in groups of 10 with two adults and a naturalist to lead the way. We touched plants (and smelled them), looked at different types of seed pods, dipped into the marsh water to find tiny life forms, and ended up walking several miles as we did all this stuff.

The highlight of the day was getting up close and personal with a cute little snake. We actually saw three of them, but only one was unlucky enough to be caught and petted. He (or she) seemed pretty relieved to get away from the eager hands.

One little girl was enthralled with every animal-like creature and wanted to keep them all as pets. “This is all so wonderful!” she told me as we panned for larva.

The ride back to school seemed less bumpy, because I kept nodding off. All that nature was pretty exhausting. (See other pictures here.)