Wednesday, March 25, 2015

School Days: PK4 Zoo Field Trip {Riley}

Riley went on his very first school field trip last Friday, to the Audubon Zoo. We are Audubon members, so he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the destination since we can go anytime we want. But he was ecstatic about how they got there: on a school bus!

Riley has talked about riding on a bus for a couple of years now, and he finally got to experience it. All of the kids were so excited about their special day of bus riding and zoo visiting. There were practically permanent smiles on their faces.

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We went straight to the elephant pond first thing to take a class picture. Don’t they all look so happy? Happy and then silly; a good combination. And I loved all of the parents lined up with their cameras and phones out.

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I was one of the chaperones of the field trip. As it turned out, lots of the PK4 parents/grandparents wanted to witness this milestone in their kids’ lives. We all met in the school parking lot and followed the bus to the zoo. Riley and his friend Aiden were assigned to me, and we ended up hanging out with Sandra, her son Samuel, and fellow classmate Angelinne most of the day.

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We went to see the leopards, sun bears, and white tiger first. They got to touch a tortoise and then we moved on to the monkeys. We ran into all of the teachers resting on the deck by the orangutans.

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On our way to the big climbing tree, the kids spotted one of the resident peacocks. After playing on the tree for a bit, we went to Monkey Hill and then swung by the giraffes. We even spotted the zoo’s new ropes course. Impressive.

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Our last stop was the swamp exhibit, where we found Dana, Claire, Lindsey, Ava, and a few other kids. They all made their best monster faces in front of the swamp monster display, climbed through the Kid Trap net, and posed on an alligator.

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We made our way back to the front of the zoo and, after a quick stop in the gift shop, put the kids back on the bus and followed them behind the zoo to the Fly for a picnic lunch. It was about an hour and a half past their normal lunchtime, so they were starving. And it was hot.

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Refueled and rejuvenated, most of the kids took off for a big hill just behind our picnic spot to run off the energy they gained from lunch. They had a good day.

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The chaperones could check their kids out right after the picnic. Dana and I gave Claire and Riley the choice of riding on the school bus one more time or coming with us to get a treat. They chose to do the latter, so we went to Tutti Frutti for frozen yogurt. Love these two.

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Riley and I got back home around 2pm, a little sunburned and a lot tired but with great memories. I would definitely call his first field trip a rousing success.

There was no rest for me that afternoon, though. Rory’s party was the next day, so there was a lot to do. Party details post coming up next!

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