Field Trip Palooza Part 2 - Arlington Echo

At back to school night when they announced an overnight field trip in the Spring for the 3rd grade, I wrote my name down to help. I just thought that sounded young for an overnight field trip, so I wanted to tag along. I am sure Ashley could have handled it just fine, but I am still glad that I went and shared the experience. It was an incredible time too. It was really well organized, and the kids had a fabulous experience.

They go to a local camp, which the school district owns called Arlington Echo. It is along the Severn River, which is one of the major tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay. The water in the Severn is brackish (a combination of fresh water and the sea that flows in with the tides). The school broke the 4 third grade classes into two groups of two. The first group left on Monday and came back Tuesday. We left Tuesday and returned Wednesday. The whole thing was scheduled out brilliantly. It would not work without parent volunteers, but we had plenty of those, and it was fabulous. Parents mainly taught the lessons at the various stations, they were the group leaders and assistant leaders (I was our group leader), they planned and provided for the snack and supervised what little sleeping actually went on in the cabins. The program there falls within their science unit and deals in detail with the Chesapeake Bay environment in which they live. They learned a lot about the bay and what affects the Bay in many ways. They learned a lot about ecology and taking care of the Earth. Save the food, it was just a fabulous time.

All ready to go. Ashley wanted to carry that pack to school. Everything for both of us save one sleeping bag is in that pack.

We packed up and went to school as usual on Tuesday morning. This time, however, I went in with Ashley, and Trent went back home with Samantha. He was so awesome to take off those two days. There was some teasing about the pages of instructions about when Sammy needed to be to preschool and when she would be home and what time he needed to be where to get Jon to and from school, but the truth is that he asked for all of that to be written down. In a small bit of confession time, I had a minor panic moment going into that school with Ashley. It was strange and discomfiting not to return home with Sammy. That is a totally strange reaction I know, but it only lasted a few minutes and off we went.


When we got to the classrooms, I was given my full schedule of events and lists of which kids were in which group. They had 7 or 8 groups of about 6 to 7 kids each. We also had a schedule or when we would attend each activity etc. Like I said, it was fabulously organized. We got on the buses, went off to Arlington Echo, went into our assigned cabins where Ashley and I set up some basic stuff on our bunk. She was on top, and I slept under her. We then took off for the flag pole area for our orientation speech followed by lunch.

View from flag pole area across the Severn River. The Severn River is a beautiful area to be sure.

At meals, our table assignments weren't necessarily the same as our groups. Everyone at our table was in our group with the addition of a couple of dads. Two of the girls in our group sat at different tables at meal time. For every meal, each table had a hopper. It was the same thing we used to do at Camp Cherry Valley only we called them waiters. Yes, my handy dandy pack of papers let me know which kids I needed to send in a few minutes early to get ready for hopper duty. Ashley was our lunch hopper on the first day, and she swears it was a ton of fun. Her job was to get our table set and the food on it and then to run for seconds etc. as people needed them. She then needed to clear and clean the table. The trick with clearing is that at Arlington Echo, part of their conservation lesson was that their waste was measured after each meal. Recycling went to recycling. Any produce or bread that didn't have dressing or butter etc. on it could be put in compost. Everything else was weighed. We were challenged to not take more than we were going to eat and then if we wanted more to take seconds so that our waste would be minimal. You get the idea. Really, if they wanted less waste, they should consider the food. Thank goodness they had a good salad bar. Whew. We had hot dogs for lunch the first day, which was o.k. I guess. The coleslaw side was not good, and the congealed beef-a-roni just looked completely unappetizing. They had some chicken stew at dinner that even the dads at my table confessed that they ate because they were hungry but not because it was good. Breakfast was awesome. There was lots of fresh fruit and yogurt and cereal options, and the pancakes and bacon were fine. Lunch the next day was pizza french bread and some kind of chicken sandwich. The second day, the group did really well with their cumulative waste. The whole group only had 1 pound of waste at breakfast. This was down from 3.5 pounds at dinner. I also think hearing that any milk they had in their glasses but didn't drink counted toward waste (and liquid is heavy), helped them adjust. I smuggled in contraband snacks, and Ashley and I hid on my bottom bunk and had trail mix later that night. It is funny thinking about it in retrospect now.

Ashley on hopper duty.


The campfire that night was amazing with activities and a guest speaker from the Iroquois Nation. He taught them all some Native American dances and the meanings behind them. It was fabulous. I wish I had pictures from the camp fire, but I don't. 10 girls in a cabin meant little sleep, of course, but the next day was still great.

When we returned in the early afternoon, I took Ashley home with me, and we just chilled out. That Wednesday I will never forget. Trent had had a blast with Sammy the day before. He and some of the other dads all went up to Bass Pro Shop and then had lunch and went out to the archery range all before picking up the school aged kids. That Wednesday was more quiet, but Sammy got off to and returned from pre-school, and everything was calm. I went to pick Jon up from school, and when I got back home, Trent was on the phone with his office. That is right. It was April 29, and the Deep Water Horizon rig had sunk, the pipe broken, and the spill discovered to be far worse than they originally thought. Trent's work hasn't been the same since then. Whenever I want an idea of how long the oil spill has been going on, I think how far back Arlington Echo was. Sheesh.


It was a fabulous field trip though, and Ashley still talks about it.

Some of the activities we participated in:

Each group did one hour doing team building games and exercises. Our group worked really well together and looked out for each other the whole time. I think doing this first may have helped with that.


Trying to find the queen bee after learning all about bees.

Unfortunately, this did not stop Ashley from freaking out about bees.

For one activity, the kids took samples of pond water and of the Severn River and compared the different organisms that live there.

A white cottonwood tree. They are indigenous trees that have been choked out. After walking around and learning about these, the kids planted saplings that will be replanted after they get bigger.

Learning about the salinity and such in the river that allow oysters to live in the Severn River.

Our last activity was wading into the river and fishing out critters and learning about them. Ashley and Joanna got a few shrimp here, which Ashley thought was fabulous. Every group but one had someone fall in the river. I was hoping for none because by the time we did this activity all their gear was up in the bowery for loading buses. One of our girls did slip and get her entire sleeve wet, but otherwise, we made it. Whew!

Field Trip Palooza Part 1 - Nasa Goddard

Time to start catching up.

On Friday, April 23, we began what I like to call Field Trip Palooza. I say this because the kids all had at least one field trip from this time through the end of May. I did not accompany them for all of them, but I did actually attend quite a few this time, and it was crazy!

On Friday, April 23rd, Sammy's preschool class along with the 3 year old class that her preschool teacher has on Tuesdays and Thursdays went to the NASA Goddard space station. Miss Debbie tried scheduling this back in March, so it was exciting when the kids were finally able to go. It turned out to be a really fun time too. They started out with a movie, which I thought was going to be awful because it would be over their heads and leave them restless and roaming. I was very wrong. It was funny and basic about astronauts and living in space. It contained lots of zero gravity somersaults and eating globs of food and doing tricks with orange juice. The kids loved it.

Afterward, all the kids who wanted to got to try on the top portion of a space suit the astronauts use when they are outside the shuttle and in space. The suit was huge on these little kids. Sammy was, of course, first up, because she is always eager (sometimes too eager quite frankly) to volunteer and have a turn.

Afterward, the kids got to go into another small theater like room. There was a white globe suspended from wires in that room. The NASA scientist helping us with our tour explained what it was. For me, this was the coolest part of the tour. There are digital projectors in four corners around the globe. They use those projectors to project our planet or any other onto the globe. They can look at it real time with weather patterns or many other views from space. They included night shots. The person running the computer projections used a wii remote and could rotate the globe and show the kids the poles and different continents. I wanted a turn to play with that thing. It was awesome. I took lots of pictures. Unfortunately, I could not get the combination of flash etc. down, and the pictures don't do it much justice.

Earth

Satellite view of the weather radar over South America

As Mars

As Jupiter

As the sun

Next came some free discovery time in an area they have for kids. Sammy went straight for the helmets and into the shuttle cockpit.



Finally, before turning us loose outside and to the gift shop if desired, they did a demonstration for the kids with pop rockets. They are decorated film canisters launched with the power of water and alkaseltzer tablets. The kids had a great time with it and with predicting whether the larger or smaller pop rocket would shoot higher. This was a really fun field trip and would be worth taking all the kids out to for a morning this summer.





It was extra fun for Sammy later as we have a friend down the street who works out at NASA Goddard. She filled him in on all the things she learned about space at the space center, and he was so impressed, he brought her home some extra stickers. Currently, Sammy thinks being an astronaut is the way to go. Trent loves that idea.

Happy 4th of July

I have neglected my blog for the past couple of months. The combination of being busy with the end of school and meetings regarding Jon's future, the natural busy that comes with the summer and my church calling and the fact that my laptop (which, let's face it makes it SOOO much more convenient) has spent more days away from home than here, has created a sad neglect. I actually miss blogging, so I will make large backward data dumps in the next few days.

For now, I wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July. I have to admit that I am not Summer's biggest fan. However, I have learned over the years that it is what you make of it, and I am looking forward to large parts of this summer. Still, I do love the 4th of July. After our crazy whirlwind of a 4th last year, we decided to keep it simple this year. Add to that the fact that Trent has contracted this summer virus we've all been sharing since school got out, and the stick around home decision was an easy one.

The kids and I made patriotic luminaries this year. It was a lot of fun and turned out pretty. The kids are already excited to try some for Halloween. We had a great Sunday at church, and didn't the kids look super cute for the 4th? :)

It is too bad that the flash doesn't allow you to see how nicely the bags looked with the candles glowing inside of them. Oh well.

We arrived home to Trent on the phone with work. Yes, even on the 4th of July, the oil spill doesn't take a break. That was short lived though, and we had a quiet afternoon and then barbecued and joined several neighborhood families for fireworks out on the sidewalk. It was really fun. Even Jon, who is not a big fan of the noise the fireworks make, loosened up and sat with the other kids and clapped for the amature fireworks show. It turns out that somewhere in the area, someone actually has a cannon and does the big fireworks, many of which we could see through the trees in our backyard, so that was a fun bonus. Trent and I participated in our annual viewing of the musical, 1776, which, while not completely historically accurate, is really funny.


I hope you all enjoyed your 4th and that I haven't been so neglectful that you won't check back in from time to time.

Busch Gardens - Spring Break Part 2

It's about time I get around to this. Yikes.

After we left Myrtle Beach (see below), we stopped in Williamsburg on the way home for our yearly trip to Busch Gardens. Anheiser Busch is very good to the military. Once a year we can go to one of their parks (Sesame World, Busch Gardens or Sea World) for free. This year, we cashed in some of Trent's accumulated hotel points from his trips to London, and we not only got our admission for free, we got our hotel for free. Hooray for that! That is why we don't have a problem paying for parking or for the over priced food in the park.

The last couple of years we went to Busch Gardens, it ended up being a cloudy and chilly day, and there was hardly anyone at the park. This time, it was warm, the sun was out, and there were more people. We still didn't wait horribly for anything though, so that was nice.

New as of last year, one of our first stops in the park is now the Forest of Fun which is designed for the little people and has a sesame street theme. The kids love the Grover roller coaster there and like the other rides as well. All three of them can and will ride them, so I didn't have to go on the Oscar ride or the Elmo spire, which was nice.

Ashley worked to make sure Sammy and Jon were buckled in and then found herself without an open seat.

She rode the next time around.

The girls on Oscar's whirly twirly ride. Jon tends to opt for more mellow things for the most part.

I love this bush. I think I should have one in my yard. No?

Among the characters we met were Cookie Monster, who at Busch Gardens is still the cookie monster and not the veggie monster.

and Grover

Zoe

and Abby Cadabby.

This year, Sammy finally hit the magic over 42 inch mark and had a purple bracelet. That opened up so many more options for her, and she has been long awaiting many of these options. Last year she was 41 inches and change. It was a disappointing blow for her and for Trent. This year, she put that purple wrist band on, and Trent finally has a roller coaster partner. She can't go on the really big ones yet, but she got right on Escape from Pompeii with her dad and loved every minute of it.

Going up

Coming down.

When we went into Ireland, we had an episode of tear inducing disappointment. Ashley's favorite ride at Busch Gardens was always Corkscrew Hill. It is one of those rides where you wear 3-D glasses and sit in a box type thing and they play a movie, and that the box shakes and moves around. The story that goes along with it is that you shrunk to the size of a leprechaun, and two boys pick up a box of little people and shake it around and take it up to the witch at the top of the hill etc. etc. Though I don't necessarily love it, it was Ashley's favorite. We went to that ride only to find it has been permanently closed. They are now using that space for a 3-D tour of Europe type ride. I think that sounds fun, but the experience made Ashley cry and then mope for the next 20 to 30 minutes. She kept explaining that Ireland was the wrong place to put that ride. They should put it in the England or France of Germany section. She repeatedly talked of writing a very angry letter to the manager etc. Trent took her on a similar 3-D motion ride called the Curse of Darkastle. That was enough to get rid of the moping. She did continue to talk about writing that letter though.


Did I mention one of the nicest parts of the kids being old enough to go on many of the rides themselves? It is not having to ride the teacup ride. :)


Trent made himself sick on the viking ship ride, so it was a nice time for the kids to go on some of the DaVinci kid rides they like so much. Jon was so excited about the flyers. The first time, he and Sammy were just far enough back in line that they had to settle for a sitting flyer. Jon was fine with that, but he got back in line with Ashley so that he could ride again on a laying down flyer. They were mindful of their manners and didn't push, and, as a result, rode in a sit down flyer. Jon spent the entire time with this head in his hands. I got in line with him one last time while the girls went on another ride. This time he didn't push, but he adopted some of the behavior he saw around him and ran as fast as he could through the gate and got on a laying down flyer. He was happy.





It was a great day. We spent 8 hours at Busch Gardens which is far more than we have before. I guess they are all old enough for that now. Ashley still hasn't written her letter, but I am not so sure she still won't.

Myrtle Beach - Spring Break Part 1

Months ago, we were invited to join other families we are friendly with and go camping in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for part of Spring Break. We looked at all of our options considering Trent was traveling to London the week prior and wouldn't get home until the day the others were traveling down to the Travel Park. Trent is particularly amazing for making it all work. He returned from London at about 4:30 Saturday afternoon to a cab driver who was at departures rather than arrivals. He finally got home shortly after 6:00 and was greeted by a happy family who also informed him we still needed to go out and get a few camping supplies. Throw into that mix the fact that I had the Young Women's General Broadcast that night, and that was a lot to deal with on top of jet lag and everything else. Trent was awesome. He dropped me off for the broadcast and got the rest of the supplies together. We packed up and drove down the next morning. I realized that with the exception of visiting my Dad and Stepmom in Texas and a short layover once in the Atlanta airport, I had never been as far south as we drove on this trip.

When we crossed into South Carolina, we called our friends who told us the night before had been exceptionally windy and who had made plans for us if we didn't beat the storm into camp. We knew from the weather forecast and from our own driving that we were racing a storm into camp. We did beat the storm, and Steve, Jerry, and Jason all helped Trent and I get the tent up right away before the rain started. Afterward, we had some awesome chili (it was the Krajewski's turn for dinner that night). The rain started up in earnest as we put the kids to bed, so we joined them. It rained for awhile, but it wasn't too bad. Jon woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and by that point it was just very very windy. The tent was shaking a bit, but it was obviously secure, so we weren't worried. Around 3:00-3:30 the rains joined with the crazy wind, and the thunderstorms came in. The lightening was close, and the thunder shook the ground. We figured we were fine as we were not on any tree roots and were quite low. Being one of only two tents we saw in the entire travel park also meant that all of the RVs and pop up campers were higher up than we were as well. The rain, however, was now coming down in torrents and was joined by very strong winds. Around 4:00 I told Trent I was getting wet. He told me it was just condensation and not to worry. A few minutes later, I felt a drop on my face and told him again I was getting wet. He reached over and felt my sleeping bag and told me the outside was all wet. The inside was still dry and warm, so I had no idea. We figured out later that what happened was that the wind blew the rain up under the fly of the tent and it would then drip down through the mesh. Our tent was pitched on the flattest part of our campsite which also happened to be the lowest. Water was pooling around the base of the tent in places. Trent and I talked through several options and at around 4:30 or so decided on the option that would get our kids out of the still pouring rain the fastest which meant getting our bags of clothes, pillows, sleeping bags and children and get them quickly into the car. We drove into town and parked in the parking lot of Cracker Barrel where we tried to rest until 6:00 when they opened and we went in for breakfast.

The inside of the Warner tent the following morning. Can you see the puddles?

As we were leaving the restaurant, a gentleman having breakfast gave each of our children a dollar bill and told Trent we had a cute family. Later that morning I wondered if he thought we could use it seeing as how we were sitting in the restaurant in pjs and sweatpants. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. We returned to camp with donuts for the others and got Trent's jet boil out to make hot chocolate. We were surprised we hadn't been missed yet until we got back and saw others in the process of trying to jury rig the Shamblen's shade tent which had partially come down in the wind. The awning on their camper was also victim to the storm.


We took the sleeping bags and the few clothes that got wet up to the laundromat and dried them in the dryers. One lady there asked me, "are you the people in the TENT?!" I thought it was kind of funny. The rain didn't stop until lunch time and then it was cloudy. We hung up the air mattresses and dried out the puddles in the tent, but we were nervous about things getting dry for the next night. We went out and ran a couple of errands. By the time we got back to camp, it wasn't only sunny, it was warm. The kids went down and played at the beach, and Trent and I verified that everything was drying beautifully. We got everything set up again and then noticed rolling dark clouds headed right our way. We moved our tent to a higher grassy area in our camp site and threw a large tarp over all of it and staked it down. The worst of the storm went around us, but we had some strong rain in the middle of the night. The great news is that with no wind, the Warners stayed nice and dry. The Shamblen's shade tent did not fare so well. The weight of the water did it in, and the guys took it down and then bunched it up for trash pick up.

The rain is gone. The sun is out. The tide is out. Let's play on the beach! The tide at Myrtle Beach was fascinating. When the tide was high, there was about 5 to 6 feet of beach. When the tide was out, there were about 30 feet or so of beach.

Tuesday morning dismantling of the Shamblen's destroyed shade tent.

How the frame ended up

Tuesday was gorgeous. The morning was full of beach play and in the afternoon at low tide, Ashley and I joined others for a 3 mile walk down the beach and did some shelling. Ashley collected A LOT of shells but also found 2 fully intact sand dollars. That was impressive. One broke, but one made it home. Now we just have to figure out what to do with all of her shells. Trent took Sam and Jon miniature golfing. We all met up as Tuesday night was the Warners turn to fix dinner. We did BBQ ribs in the dutch oven and a raspberry cobbler. We messed up the cobbler and made a chocolate raspberry cake instead. It still tasted good but wasn't cobbler. The ribs were great. It was funny to see our friends react to dutch oven cooking as they hadn't really seen it done before. We were told we could come camping with all of them again if we brought ribs again.

Sammy's unsuccessful but fun attempt at body boarding

Every sand castle needs a moat

Ashley collecting shells Tuesday afternoon

About half the shells she ended up bringing home

We left the next day for part two of our adventure, but all in all we had a great time. There was lots of fun around the camp fire of course, but most of that doesn't translate if you weren't there. I am sure if you've sat around a fire laughing with friends, you know what I am talking about. I am not sure what all of this does for our "the Warners are hard core campers" reputation, but we had a great time.

A Lamb, A Lion, or a Flash

We returned from our Spring Break traveling this past Thursday night. As I was unpacking, I was thinking about when to fit in coloring eggs with the kids and it occurred to me; I had not only not made martenitsas with them, I hadn't even THOUGHT about martenitsas until that moment. This really gave me pause to realize how quickly March came and went. Never mind whether it came in like a lamb or a lion. I am not sure I could remember to be honest. It came and went like a flash of lightening. Now that I am thinking back on it, I realize we were busy because we had so much going on, but it all just jumbled together into one busy after another. As a result, before I really realized we had started, it was gone.

Skipping martenitsas is really no big deal. It is something from Bulgaria. Baba Mart and the martenitsas that everyone bought and sold and made and wore were one of my favorite things when Trent and I were living in Bulgaria, and it is something I like to remember still (not this year apparently). What really made me pause wasn't that I didn't make martenitsas this year. It was that I hadn't even thought about it until the 1st of April. We had 4-H twice. Ashley had the MSA exams at school and plenty of girl drama as well (yuck to the latter). I was the guest reader in Ashley's class once this month. I had my first New Beginnings Program as the Young Women's President. Trent went to London for a week for work, so we celebrated my birthday early. I actually ended up celebrating my birthday for nearly a week. (I admit that I love birthdays though.) We had the youth temple trip, the fundraiser for summer camp and all of our regular meetings, and we had Spring Break. In all of that, I somehow kind of forgot that the month of March was happening. I am so good about birthday cards. I like to send them, and I really like remembering family and friends and all of our nieces and nephews particularly because we don't see them that often. I bought cards this month but never mailed one. I guess that means I am not sending cards for this year now. That is sad. O.k., I didn't really forget, but it made it feel like it came and went in a flash before I really realized it.

I hope everyone had a great month. I hope everyone is enjoying Spring. Chestita Baba Mart to you all.