Road trip, Vincelette style
Last night the scouts at church went to the planetarium at Colgate University. Chriss knows how much I love astronomy and also thought T would have fun. So he suggested we go. I hesitated at first because it was a school night but, T has worked so hard over the past few weeks to be good in school and he deserved a reward. So we went.
So first, we had our black car in the shop yesterday because it was making bad sounds (and also because two weeks ago I kind of sort of rammed it into the side of the garage while backing out. But I was only trying to avoid backing into our red car at the time. Anyway, that's another story and I'm not telling it today). It was ready to be picked up by the end of the day. But we had to be at the church by six so I packed T a dinner and we picked up Chriss, stopped by the dealership and got our car. We dropped it off at home and headed to the church. We got there right on time. A miracle, for those of you who know my husband's tendency to be late. (I used to be so punctual and then I got married and it got even worse once I had T).
There were about 5 other cars caravanning with us to Colgate. We were last in line and it all started out just fine. And then right after we left the church parking lot, a bunch of cars merged in ahead of us and we almost lost track of the ones we were supposed to be following. But it was still okay because I could still see them. That is, until we hit the light. Everyone else went through just fine. But it turned red on us. And neither of us were sure if the others had turned left or gone straight. We took a gamble and turned left but there was no sign of them.
I flipped through Chriss' cell trying to find someone's number so we could figure out which way to go. Nada. Back to the church we went. No one there knew how to get to Colgate but gave us a few cell numbers to try. I got a hold of the lead driver who gave us enough directions to get us started. By that time, we were twenty minutes behind everyone.
So we took off once again, all alone this time. Every 10 minutes or so the lead driver called my cell and gave us more directions. Names of the roads we needed to turn on, how many miles we had to go before making the turns, etc. Between that and Chriss speeding driving efficiently, we made it there only 10 minutes after everyone else. And the presenter was kind enough to wait for us.
For the first 45 minutes we were there, we looked at a representation of the current night sky. I had fun picking out all the constellations I knew well ahead of the presenter pointing them out to us. (My favorite, for those who are curious, is Orion). Then he opened the floor for questions. Almost all the boys had at least one. Well, T didn't want to be left out. So he raised his hand. Chriss leaned over and asked what he wanted. T whispered, "I want him to show us a planet with aliens!"
Afterward, we watched a film on the wonders of the universe. T fell alseep halfway through. We didn't make it home until 10:30 but it was a lot of fun, even considering the getting lost part.
I was a little worried T would have a hard time getting up this morning. But all it took was telling him that if he didn't get up, he'd miss the field trip this morning. I hadn't even finished my sentence before he was out of bed and changing his clothes.
One of the very few perks of having a diabetic child is that I automatically get to go on all the field trips with him. Because if Chriss or I can't go, T can't go. And I love going on field trips with him. Today we went to the Stanley Theater and saw the play Junie B. Jones. I've heard lots of positive things about the books but haven't read them yet. After seeing the play, I so have to check them out. It was so cute and so hiliarious! And the kids had a blast.
The only downside to the field trip was the theater was so packed with kids from so many schools that they were dismissing us by bus number. 5 buses would pull up in front of the theater at a time, they'd call out the numbers and then the classes belonging to those buses could leave. Guess who's bus wasn't in the first, second, third, or fourth batch? Yeah, that's right, ours. The class with the diabetic child who was already 45 minutes late for lunch.
Even though T had been high most of the morning, because his lunch was delayed so long, he ended up dropping down to 47 while we waited. Fortunately, I never leave the house without his blue bag full of diabetic supplies. And I always stock it with at least 2 juice boxes and 3-4 snacks. So we were able to get his blood sugar up to a safer level until we got back to school and the kids had lunch. Other than that though, it was a fun field trip.
So that's what I've been up to so far this week. Not writing, even though I really really want to. I've also been cleaning out my office. Out of necessity, not choice. I had to pack up all my scrapbook stuff into bins to make room for the weight machine Chriss is putting together in my office. Maybe tomorrow...
So first, we had our black car in the shop yesterday because it was making bad sounds (and also because two weeks ago I kind of sort of rammed it into the side of the garage while backing out. But I was only trying to avoid backing into our red car at the time. Anyway, that's another story and I'm not telling it today). It was ready to be picked up by the end of the day. But we had to be at the church by six so I packed T a dinner and we picked up Chriss, stopped by the dealership and got our car. We dropped it off at home and headed to the church. We got there right on time. A miracle, for those of you who know my husband's tendency to be late. (I used to be so punctual and then I got married and it got even worse once I had T).
There were about 5 other cars caravanning with us to Colgate. We were last in line and it all started out just fine. And then right after we left the church parking lot, a bunch of cars merged in ahead of us and we almost lost track of the ones we were supposed to be following. But it was still okay because I could still see them. That is, until we hit the light. Everyone else went through just fine. But it turned red on us. And neither of us were sure if the others had turned left or gone straight. We took a gamble and turned left but there was no sign of them.
I flipped through Chriss' cell trying to find someone's number so we could figure out which way to go. Nada. Back to the church we went. No one there knew how to get to Colgate but gave us a few cell numbers to try. I got a hold of the lead driver who gave us enough directions to get us started. By that time, we were twenty minutes behind everyone.
So we took off once again, all alone this time. Every 10 minutes or so the lead driver called my cell and gave us more directions. Names of the roads we needed to turn on, how many miles we had to go before making the turns, etc. Between that and Chriss speeding driving efficiently, we made it there only 10 minutes after everyone else. And the presenter was kind enough to wait for us.
For the first 45 minutes we were there, we looked at a representation of the current night sky. I had fun picking out all the constellations I knew well ahead of the presenter pointing them out to us. (My favorite, for those who are curious, is Orion). Then he opened the floor for questions. Almost all the boys had at least one. Well, T didn't want to be left out. So he raised his hand. Chriss leaned over and asked what he wanted. T whispered, "I want him to show us a planet with aliens!"
Afterward, we watched a film on the wonders of the universe. T fell alseep halfway through. We didn't make it home until 10:30 but it was a lot of fun, even considering the getting lost part.
I was a little worried T would have a hard time getting up this morning. But all it took was telling him that if he didn't get up, he'd miss the field trip this morning. I hadn't even finished my sentence before he was out of bed and changing his clothes.
One of the very few perks of having a diabetic child is that I automatically get to go on all the field trips with him. Because if Chriss or I can't go, T can't go. And I love going on field trips with him. Today we went to the Stanley Theater and saw the play Junie B. Jones. I've heard lots of positive things about the books but haven't read them yet. After seeing the play, I so have to check them out. It was so cute and so hiliarious! And the kids had a blast.
The only downside to the field trip was the theater was so packed with kids from so many schools that they were dismissing us by bus number. 5 buses would pull up in front of the theater at a time, they'd call out the numbers and then the classes belonging to those buses could leave. Guess who's bus wasn't in the first, second, third, or fourth batch? Yeah, that's right, ours. The class with the diabetic child who was already 45 minutes late for lunch.
Even though T had been high most of the morning, because his lunch was delayed so long, he ended up dropping down to 47 while we waited. Fortunately, I never leave the house without his blue bag full of diabetic supplies. And I always stock it with at least 2 juice boxes and 3-4 snacks. So we were able to get his blood sugar up to a safer level until we got back to school and the kids had lunch. Other than that though, it was a fun field trip.
So that's what I've been up to so far this week. Not writing, even though I really really want to. I've also been cleaning out my office. Out of necessity, not choice. I had to pack up all my scrapbook stuff into bins to make room for the weight machine Chriss is putting together in my office. Maybe tomorrow...