ZOO!
All five kindergarten classes from Eagle Crest went to the Zoo this morning on two buses. They all wore tie dye. Most of the classes had about twenty kids and about 10 parents or teachers with each class. And the teachers had the cell phone numbers of every parent.
It's good to plan ahead, with Kindergarteners. *giggles*
The good thing was that it meant that each parent had two kids to watch. Mrs. Bauer counted John and I as one parent, and we got the kid that pretty much needed the most attention, which worked out as Jet's one of the kids that needs the least amount of attention and between the two of us, it was pretty easy to stay on top of both of the kids and get their needs met.
Bradley is definitely an, "I've seen that, let's go on!" kind of kid. At a full run. Jet, on the other hand, is a little guy that likes to study his subjects and really see what it is that they look like, what they're doing and what they're going to do. So we had to work on a kind of uncomfortable compromise for both of the kids, I would hurry Jet along, and John would keep a rein on Bradley. It kind of worked. Both kids were mildly unhappy, but no out right rebellion, and we managed to get back to the rendezvous point.
Since we didn't really get there until 10is and had to leave at 1 to let the buses get back to their routes and we had to get our lunches, it was kind of a race through the park. We got to see lots of critters. Polar bears, giraffes, the whole tropics house with the snakes, fish, and birds. We had fun with the whole pachyderm house, and Bradley really wanted to see the monkeys. But when they were on an island, smashing coconut bits with a rock, it was *really* cool.
We stopped by some foxes to eat our lunch. The foxes' ears perked up when they heard us pulling out our lunches, and a little chipmunk came out and dodged about our feet as we ate. Then a *big* glorious male peacock saw us eating on the bench and strutted over and gave us the eye. Then, with a rattle of his plumage, he spread his tail wide and watched us as everyone oooh'ed and aaaah'ed. I think he's gotten food for doing his trick, before, as he eyed us pretty closely as he walked back and forth, brushing us with the soft edge of his fan. I took lots of pictures, but it was mildly overcast, so the colors were muted. But wow... to be that close. We didn't feed him, but it was a great show, and lots of people came by to take pictures of him. Both kids spilled crumbs when they were done, and the peacock was rewarded with bits of Ritz crackers, BBQ potato chips, Cheetos, and turkey pepperoni. All of it likely bad for it, but it was quite content, as it folded up its fan as soon as we moved on.
It was a pretty big push to get back to the group exit in time. The bus has to leave at 1:15, so we had to be back by 1. We were the second to last group to get in, but we made it no problem. The colorful group was fun to watch as it snaked through the parking lot, holding hands with Mrs. Bauer. It was pretty cool. The bus ride home was as raucous as the ride there, but we got to talk a bit with one of the other parents who volunteers with us. That was fun and cool, too, as I don't usually get to talk with her much.
So I'm tired. *grin* But happy that it worked out and that we did get to have fun for pretty much free, as we didn't have to pay for tickets this time around.
Yesterday was pretty tiring, too. Jet and I played Star Wars II in the morning for a while and I really didn't want to go to the OUR center garden. Given that I couldn't go on Thursday and I wanted to get more vegetables in rather than less, I went in anyway and planted more cabbage and radishes and planted all my extra onion starts. I spent several hours there and took some strawberries that were going to get pitched anyway.
Got home to find a note that the boys had left for McD's, so I drove over there and met up with them. John then rode his bike to the OUR center to allow the church to serve lunch on Saturday. Jet and I went home, and we had fun playing for a bit.
Then the three of us headed into Boulder and met up with Carla! She's someone I met through an Internet friend of mine, whom I've known since 80's, and it was great fun to get together with her. She was in town for two different meetings about women in computer science and/or IT, which seems really cool to me, as I used to try and do programmable pld labs for girls interested in science so they could see what it was like to get circuits to do what they wanted them to do.
Anyway... she hadn't seen Jet since he was 18-months-old, and she really enjoyed getting to see him and play with him as we walked through Boulder's Pearl Street Mall and we ate at the brewery right at the west end of Pearl just before it becomes the mall. It was good food, great company, and a really good evening out.
Then John had a church meeting, and Jet and I went to the knitting group. Jet fell asleep on the way back from Boulder, poor guy, he was pretty tired. So he had a little nap before the knitting meeting, and he was great during it. We went home, early, though, as I was pretty tired. Jet, however, was raring to go. *sigh*. I tried putting him to bed, but it was so obviously NOT going to work, that I succumbed and the two of us played Star Wars II for an hour and *then* tried it again. This time it worked better, but he tossed and turned and tossed and turned, and finally, I said, "Jet. If you do not go to sleep soon, you will not be able to go to the zoo tomorrow and have *any* energy."
Jet turned over and went still. Then he was snoring just a few minutes later.
I wish *I* had the boy sleep mechanism. Damnit.
It's good to plan ahead, with Kindergarteners. *giggles*
The good thing was that it meant that each parent had two kids to watch. Mrs. Bauer counted John and I as one parent, and we got the kid that pretty much needed the most attention, which worked out as Jet's one of the kids that needs the least amount of attention and between the two of us, it was pretty easy to stay on top of both of the kids and get their needs met.
Bradley is definitely an, "I've seen that, let's go on!" kind of kid. At a full run. Jet, on the other hand, is a little guy that likes to study his subjects and really see what it is that they look like, what they're doing and what they're going to do. So we had to work on a kind of uncomfortable compromise for both of the kids, I would hurry Jet along, and John would keep a rein on Bradley. It kind of worked. Both kids were mildly unhappy, but no out right rebellion, and we managed to get back to the rendezvous point.
Since we didn't really get there until 10is and had to leave at 1 to let the buses get back to their routes and we had to get our lunches, it was kind of a race through the park. We got to see lots of critters. Polar bears, giraffes, the whole tropics house with the snakes, fish, and birds. We had fun with the whole pachyderm house, and Bradley really wanted to see the monkeys. But when they were on an island, smashing coconut bits with a rock, it was *really* cool.
We stopped by some foxes to eat our lunch. The foxes' ears perked up when they heard us pulling out our lunches, and a little chipmunk came out and dodged about our feet as we ate. Then a *big* glorious male peacock saw us eating on the bench and strutted over and gave us the eye. Then, with a rattle of his plumage, he spread his tail wide and watched us as everyone oooh'ed and aaaah'ed. I think he's gotten food for doing his trick, before, as he eyed us pretty closely as he walked back and forth, brushing us with the soft edge of his fan. I took lots of pictures, but it was mildly overcast, so the colors were muted. But wow... to be that close. We didn't feed him, but it was a great show, and lots of people came by to take pictures of him. Both kids spilled crumbs when they were done, and the peacock was rewarded with bits of Ritz crackers, BBQ potato chips, Cheetos, and turkey pepperoni. All of it likely bad for it, but it was quite content, as it folded up its fan as soon as we moved on.
It was a pretty big push to get back to the group exit in time. The bus has to leave at 1:15, so we had to be back by 1. We were the second to last group to get in, but we made it no problem. The colorful group was fun to watch as it snaked through the parking lot, holding hands with Mrs. Bauer. It was pretty cool. The bus ride home was as raucous as the ride there, but we got to talk a bit with one of the other parents who volunteers with us. That was fun and cool, too, as I don't usually get to talk with her much.
So I'm tired. *grin* But happy that it worked out and that we did get to have fun for pretty much free, as we didn't have to pay for tickets this time around.
Yesterday was pretty tiring, too. Jet and I played Star Wars II in the morning for a while and I really didn't want to go to the OUR center garden. Given that I couldn't go on Thursday and I wanted to get more vegetables in rather than less, I went in anyway and planted more cabbage and radishes and planted all my extra onion starts. I spent several hours there and took some strawberries that were going to get pitched anyway.
Got home to find a note that the boys had left for McD's, so I drove over there and met up with them. John then rode his bike to the OUR center to allow the church to serve lunch on Saturday. Jet and I went home, and we had fun playing for a bit.
Then the three of us headed into Boulder and met up with Carla! She's someone I met through an Internet friend of mine, whom I've known since 80's, and it was great fun to get together with her. She was in town for two different meetings about women in computer science and/or IT, which seems really cool to me, as I used to try and do programmable pld labs for girls interested in science so they could see what it was like to get circuits to do what they wanted them to do.
Anyway... she hadn't seen Jet since he was 18-months-old, and she really enjoyed getting to see him and play with him as we walked through Boulder's Pearl Street Mall and we ate at the brewery right at the west end of Pearl just before it becomes the mall. It was good food, great company, and a really good evening out.
Then John had a church meeting, and Jet and I went to the knitting group. Jet fell asleep on the way back from Boulder, poor guy, he was pretty tired. So he had a little nap before the knitting meeting, and he was great during it. We went home, early, though, as I was pretty tired. Jet, however, was raring to go. *sigh*. I tried putting him to bed, but it was so obviously NOT going to work, that I succumbed and the two of us played Star Wars II for an hour and *then* tried it again. This time it worked better, but he tossed and turned and tossed and turned, and finally, I said, "Jet. If you do not go to sleep soon, you will not be able to go to the zoo tomorrow and have *any* energy."
Jet turned over and went still. Then he was snoring just a few minutes later.
I wish *I* had the boy sleep mechanism. Damnit.