5th Grade Field Trip--Riley's Farm

Riley's Farm was the perfect spot for Wade's big 5th-grade field trip.  I am so thankful for his school teachers and staff and volunteers who put it together!

This place is about 2 hours away (3 if you have to follow the school bus like I did as a chaperone).  We had gorgeous weather!  The kids were great!  And even though the grounds were P-A-C-K-E-D with several other school groups, the experience and rotations were managed very well.  I probably loved it so much because it reminded me of another favorite place--Mount Vernon from our Virginia adventure!

The guides were fantastic--all spoke in a colonial, British accent and kept the kids very engaged.  They experienced what it was like for colonists and got an appreciation for why the Revolutionary War started in the first place.  

I was so glad to be there with Wade and his friends.  It was a neat place, and I hope we go there again as a family so that we can enjoy the good food they make there!  My sweet friend Christian Speredelozzi rode down with me and Becky Anderson, and she bought us both these HUGE, delicious apple pies.  Becky and Christian were great company--they kept me laughing and talking so that my 6+ hours driving didn't bother me one bit!!!

I've been on a lot of field trips, and this was probably one of my all-time favorites.  We were down and back in a day before it got dark, the kids were well-behaved, I had wonderful adults helping me with our large group, AND Riley's Farm exceeded expectations!

Link:  Riley's Farm

A field trip to the Indian Wells Brewing Company

The week before school I took the kids on a little field trip, about 15-20 minutes out of town to the Indian Wells Brewing Company.  We've been here since 1999, and only recently had I heard that this place was pretty fun to see.  I thought they only brewed beer, which holds no interest for me, but apparently they make over 100 different kinds of soda, too.  We bought 12 and brought them home to try.  Note:  if it sounds nasty, it probably tastes nasty, too.  :)  We still had a good time, though!

Here were the flavors we got:

Cotton candy--weird

Ranch Dressing--GROSS

Martian Poop (marionberry)--pretty good

marshmallow--pretty good

plum--YUM!

cookie dough--not bad

Seal Ya Later--tasted a lot like Pepsi

Radioactive--mulberry, pretty good

Judge Wapner--another cola

Bacon--DISGUSTING with a meaty aftertaste. :)

buffalo wings--Jason hasn't tried it yet!  We'll have to see!

8th Grade Field Trips

Have I mentioned that May was a big month for Rhiannon?  She went to Disneyland with her middle school band one weekend, leaving at 4am on a Friday and coming back at 3am the following day!  She had a blast, though!

Rhiannon was so excited to be in a group with her friends Emily, Nathan, and Jacob.  When I found out she'd be strolling around Disney with some great friends, I stopped worrying about her! ;)

Rhiannon with Emily and Nathan

Parade fun

A long bus ride is a lot more bearable when you're with a friend!

She had the opportunity to go on TWO MORE big field trips that month, to Knotts Berry Farm with the CJSF group (middle school honor society) or to Magic Mountain with all the 8th graders.  We told her she had to choose between the two (mean parents, haha!), and she chose Magic Mountain.  She rode roller coasters ALL DAY LONG and loved every minute of it!  Thank you, Dramamine, haha! :)

During the Magic Mountain day, a friend of mine here in Ridgecrest sent me a Facebook message telling me she'd said hi to Rhiannon there and reported that she and her friends were having a BLAST.  Made me happy!

Camping with 5th graders

The Details:
3-day Camping Field Trip to San Diego with 5th graders
60 kids, 13 adults
Set up camp and tents at San Diego Metro KOA (NICE hot showers)
Visited USS Midway, the beach on Coronado, and Robotics lab at Legoland

Chaperone duties:
Make meals for a crowd
Herd students like cattle
Time showers
Try to help homesick kids
Supervise, supervise, supervise
Keep tent groups with you at destinations
etc.


Downside:
Very little sleep
Preteen girl emotional drama (thankfully Rhiannon didn't cause any)
A tear in our tent

Upside:
For the most part, the kids were amazing!
Rhiannon's teachers were amazing and so organized!
The other chaperones were fun!
The food was pretty good!
The places we visited were NEAT!
Rhiannon and I would go again in a heartbeat!


Jason and Wade managed very well without us girls around for 3 days, too. Wade went with Dad to Scouts one night, and they watched Gone in 60 Seconds on Friday night. They ate pizza, KFC, and restaurant food. Jason said Wade didn't want to do too much--my guess was he was still recuperating from his cold. Many thanks to our friends Katie and Heidi who watched Wade before and after school so Jason could carry on a normal work schedule, too.

Jason wanted to surprise us by opening up the pool while we were gone. When he took the tarp cover off, he saw that the pool was brown and disgusting! We didn't realize that the few puddles we saw consistently on top of the tarp were from small holes in the tarp. Those holes, combined with the crazy wind we've had, made quite a mess of the pool. We're going on Day 6 now of Operation Pool Cleanup and it's looking MUCH BETTER. Fingers crossed, it'll be good to go by Rhiannon's birthday! :)