RETREAT
Our vocabulary word for Friday was RETREAT.
Definition: what our family does when the parking lot of the zoo, and all adjacent parking lots are crammed full of school buses! Back slowly away .... turn and RUN, in this case to the park with Living Joy and three other home schooling moms (along with 16 kids, one awesome aunt and one awesome grandma, by the way).
Geography for the day ... reading all of the school names on the sides of the buses and figuring out if we knew what towns they represented.
Logistics of the day ... coordinating the mom minivan/car brigade and redirecting to a park.
Ultimate word of the day ... FLEXIBILITY!
Lesson of the day for moi ... find my cell phone or get a new one. Sorry!
Nothing against field trips. I went along on a few while G was in K and 1st grade, including the zoo. It was the worst day of my life. Being responsible for six or so kids whose personalities I did not know (were they wanderers, would they listen, can they run faster than me) and who belonged to other parents, was pretty stressful. I had never counted to six so many times in my life as during those few hours there. Head count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 .... panic panic ... where is SIX?
Oh there he is, trying to climb into the alligator pit.
Postscript (a few minutes later, while throwing some clothes in the dryer, and picking out a million pieces of a former tissue stuck to every piece of clothing) ... I was reminded of how very very very blessed we are. We have a zoo pass. We can go to the zoo anytime we want. We throw garage sale money, or some extra cash for it, because it is a fantastic "bargain" to have that pass. So we can go to the zoo anytime we want. In fact, we go so often, that only a few of our 16 kids (mostly mine) were bummed that we didn't go this day.
I am reminded about the folks who don't live within ten minutes of a great park or zoo, like we do, and could not afford the admission cost or a pass. And I was also reminded of Chandy's post during Spring Break , some of her kids had NEVER been to the zoo. We take it for granted. WOW.
Posted in: on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at at 11:43 AM
16 kids huh? 8 months to grandma? But what about socialization? Haha!
We had a blast, but next time remember to tell the mom of the blondes to put on a little sunscreen, OUCH!
When my dad was little his family vacation was to the OKC Zoo! We are blessed. Thanks for the reminder.