6/1: Chaperone

Today, I played chaperone to my daughter and 3 of her friends - all girls- for the school's Detroit Zoo trip. All 3 classes in my daughter's grade went on the trip, and I was one of probably 20 or so volunteers. I had volunteered to help out in my daughter's class before, but this was the first official grade school field trip that I've chaperoned for either of my kids. Why they gave me 4 girls in my group I have no idea. But, off we went. The trip started with a bus ride to the zoo - the first time I'd ever been a passenger on one of the school district's buses. That in itself was quite an experience. My daughter wanted to sit with two of her pals, so I ended up sitting with two other girls in her class. Very nice young ladies, but I never realized how long kids can go on talking about anything and everything if you just let them carry on without interruption. These girls must have covered everything from their family members to middle names to their favorite zoo animals! Then, upon arrival at the zoo, us and about 400 other buses filled with kids from other area schools, I had the task of keeping them all together and nearby as we made our way to the front gate. From there, we were on our own, as the various groups split up and we were able to navigate our own path of choice through the zoo. So, here's me, backpack filled with 5 lunches and water bottles thrown over my shoulder, clipboard with an activity the kids were to complete in one hand and a zoo map in my other hand trying to keep the group of 4 together but still cover some ground in the zoo in order to see as many animals as possible before the scheduled lunch with the entire class back behind the Butterfly House. In the end, I left with 4 and I was able to return 4 safely to the school, And, to be honest, all of these young ladies were on their best behavior and very cooperative throughout our zoo journey. Regardless, it didn't really matter how easy or difficult it was, as the main thing was that I got to spend an entire day with my daughter out in the sunshine touring the zoo. Does it get any better than that on a work day?