The Field Trip

It was quite obvious the past few days that I am a first time mother of a school aged child. I could hardly sleep last night I was so excited and this morning I was up bright and early with a spirit of anticipation about me. You see, today the kindergartners were going on their first field trip to Hergott's Cider Mill! The funny thing is that I wasn't even going with them! That didn't stop me from talking about it for weeks. If someone asked me about our schedule this week I found myself saying, "We're free every day but Friday! Oh wait. I guess Timothy and Christopher and I are available on Friday. It's Stephen that's busy." October 12 was going to be an exciting day for us this year, no matter what!

The last few nights our bedtime stories have been ones of Aunt Liz and me working at Rittman Orchard while we were in high school. I told the boys about us riding our bikes up that awful hill every morning to work. I described lugging those heavy ladders around and climbing up in the trees to pick the apples. I told them about the cleaning barn where the bins of apples were dumped into the washer and then sorted for us to bag and box. I told them about making cider in the big vats in the back of the store's building (Don't worry, Liz. I didn't give away all our secrets from that particular job!). I told them all kinds of fun things about an apple orchard because I thought I'd help get him excited about his first field trip at school!

This morning we prayed that Stephen would have fun today and that he would be obedient and be safe. He nodded emphatically at that one and after the prayer I asked him if he was excited to go and he told me NO! I was shocked! Here I thought I had been getting him all prepped for this exciting day and he didn't want to go! After questioning him, I finally found out why. He was afraid to climb the ladders to pick apples! Oops. I guess I got overly excited for him and forgot to tell him that children on field trips didn't climb the ladders to pick their apples! I assured him that he wouldn't have to climb any ladders or trees, but that he would see them and learn how they picked them and made cider. Whew! By the time the bus came, he was ready to go again.

My excitement didn't stop when he got on that bus. Remember, I'm a typical first time mom here. I thought about him all morning long! I imagined him getting to school and getting involved in the pre-field trip buzz that takes place in classrooms prior to leaving. I wondered if he had a blast on the bus with all the kids from his class and all the parent volunteers that were along. I pictured him at the orchard standing quietly while the cider pressing process was explained to him, but then I jerked back to reality and realized that he was probably supposed to be standing quietly. Instead, I'm sure he was kicking the mud and stomping on leaves and poking whatever happened to be close to him. He would be listening, no question about that, but he would be actively listening!

When he got home, I tried not to pelt him with questions right away. I let him tell us what he wanted to tell and then I dove right in and continued my first time mom antics. We got to hear about how he was allowed to try a spring apple and saw how they dumped the apples into the cider press. He told us that he was allowed to turn the handle to peel an apple and then pop the core out. "We weren't allowed to eat the core, though. That was garbage." He described the bus ride and who he sat with and how he got hot and sweaty in his warm coat. I'm telling you, I LOVE having a jabberbox as a first child!!

As I've been typing this, making fun a bit at the fact that I'm a typical first time mom, I've also come to the realization that I must need to get out more. I'm living my life through my junior kindergartner's adventures! Sigh. I am enjoying it, but yep. I think I need to get out more and experience some things for myself again. :) Tomorrow the Waterloo Waste Management Centre has free tours for the public. That sounds interesting. I think I'll go to that. And I'll take the kids with me, of course. I still love seeing the world through their eyes.