Field Trip Woes

Mercy.
Yesterday was a day for the record books.
I went as a chaperone on the boy's Field Trip to the aquarium.
Sounds innocent enough, right?

I'll summarize by saying that...
1. Several WRONG turns were involved.
2. 210 5th graders is a lot of pretween-y people.
3. Seven buses is a lot of buses to keep up with when making MANY wrong turns.
4. Maybe buses weren't meant to make tight u-turns?
5. Tow trucks were involved.
6. 2 out of 7 buses stuck in mud at the beach/aquarium means dropping off 160 kids at the aquarium and going back to get the 70 kids out of the mud.
7. Going to a "Reptile Show" means a snake will be involved.

And that was just all in the first half of the day.
Because of all the poor navigational choices getting to the aquarium, the bus I was on (with the teacher "in charge") decided to lead the way.
But.
No one followed.
Yep... the 6 buses behind us all agreed to follow our new GPS-guided route and our driver's suggestions to get home before 2013. But then they didn't follow.

We were all supposed to be back at the school by 5:30 pm. The principal, who was fully aware of our situations, had been trying to keep the waiting parents updated.

Guess how many parents were happy to see only ONE bus drive back up to the school? At 6:20 pm.
Guess how many unhappy parents were waiting about 34 more minutes for the rest of the buses?
Do the math: 210 kids + 7 buses = ___ ticked off parents' cars jamming the parking lot?

Oh, and it was raining.

I think we may have had our April Fool's Day a little early. Except I was there and it wasn't a joke.

Other than being tired of being on the buses, the kids were great sports about the whole ordeal.



And, they had a great time in the aquarium.





So we made it home about 8:30 last night, and I hit the ground running.
That cutie-patootie in the picture above is turning (gulp) 12 tomorrow.

In between my tears about having a 12 year-old, I have to make cupcakes, pick up a bouncy house thing, clean my house, and get ready for family to arrive.

Oh... And, I may not volunteer for a Field Trip for a while.
Wait. I forgot. There's another one next week.

Call the Loony Bin and reserve a spot for me, please.