First of Five

Well this has been an interesting day...

After trying to scrape up enough activities to occupy my 6th graders on their field trip, I was kind of wondering how the day would actually go.  So many of the things I had lined up didn't have a specific end time, so I wasn't sure how long they would go.  To counteract that, we hung around school until about 11:00 so we wouldn't get to our destination with nothing to do.

We ate at the mall.  My only stipulation about the mall was that we had to sit together, otherwise they could get whatever food they wanted.  Half of us went to China Max and the other half chose Subway.  Then came the hard matter of finding a table.  The boys picked a spot but there wasn't enough room for everyone.   So I sat at a different table nearby.  An older lady eating next to us said, "So this is the generation gap?" and gestured to the distance between our two tables.

I ended up moving my tray back to the boys' table since there wouldn't be enough room for all the girls if I sat there too.  And then one of the girls sat by me, so we were segregated into Chinese food and Subway tables.  The boys finished way before the girls did, and they started to get squirrely.  One had the brilliant idea to take a ride on the carousel, but decided not to since it cost $2.00.  But then he must've changed his mind because a few minutes later he was standing in line to get a token for the ride.  Of course, the other 6th grade boy had to follow suit, and then one of the girls wanted to go as well.  Unfortunately, she didn't have enough money, so she ran back to our table to ask for some.  One of her classmates gave her .80 but somebody did the math wrong and the lady sent her back again to get some more money (since she still didn't have enough?).  I told her to go ask for her money back.

At this point, we needed to leave for our museum tour, but the boys were already strapped in and ready to go on the carousel, so we had to wait.  It was probably the longest three minutes of my life.  We made it out of the mall and over to the Ottensen Museum at Bethany College, but we were about 10 minutes late.  Sigh.

The Ottensen Museum is devoted to the history of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and had some really cool artifacts for the kids to see.  They asked a lot of questions about the things they saw, but I don't think they were paying much attention to the information about the Synod's religious history.  Maybe they would've gotten more out of it if we visited earlier in the year when their brains were still working.  It's a really neat museum!

We were supposed to meet a worker from the city of Mankato at the Rassmussen Woods Nature Center at 12:15, but we had just gotten to the museum (and I had said we'd be there sometime between 12:15 and 12:30).  I called the guy just in case, but got his voicemail.  I left a message telling him we'd be late.  And then about five minutes later he called me from his cell phone.  I felt so bad telling him that we wouldn't be there for another 20 minutes or so!  He just sighed.  He had to get back to work and didn't want to wait around for us to get there.  So he gave me the code to get the key.  I was instructed to keep the kids from touching anything and to shut the lights off when we left, but we were free to look around and use the facilities.

They loved looking at all the taxidermy animals.  One boy had a staring contest with a moose.  One of the girls found a display that let you hear sounds common Minnesota birds make.  One girl was fascinated by the cougar.  We still had some time left before we needed to head to the radio station, so we took a quick bathroom break and then trekked some of the nature trails at the park.  I think that was their favorite part of the day.  They wanted to come back and explore some more, but we didn't have time.

Finally it was time to load up and head to the radio station.  But everyone needed a bathroom break again.  My kids somehow figured out the number code to get the key, so one of them had already used it to get into the building.  I'm praying that they all forget the numbers really soon, just in case.

Radio Mankato is way on the other end of town, almost outside Mankato.  There are about five or six radio stations that broadcast through the company.  We got to see the entire studio and see how the computers work.  The producers pick all the songs the night before so the DJs don't actually get to pick which music plays.  It was really neat!  My kids were thirsty and rambunctious/tired at that point (I know, opposites, but somehow my kids were both) so I don't know how much they enjoyed it.  They were being a little snarky to the guy giving us the tour, but he was giving it right back to them, so maybe that's why they weren't on their best behavior.

We made it back to school with five minutes to spare before the buses came.  A parent came in to film a short thank-you message from our class, so we barely snuck out to the bus in time.  Mr. E's class actually missed the bus.  The other teachers and I tried to get them to stop, but the bus drivers pointed to their watches and shook their heads "no" and drove off.  So Mr. E had to drive kids all over the place to try to catch their transfer buses.  Yikes!

One 8th grader called his mom to come pick him up, but hung up before he told her that Mr. E was giving him a ride.  So she showed up at school about ten minutes after they left and found that her son was not there!

Tomorrow is softball day at Caswell Park.  It's supposed to be 90 degrees or higher, so we'll see how the day goes.