My Worst Field Trip Ever!

So...Yesterday was the big first grade field trip!  Exciting?  One would think so, but apparently we had "bad field trip karma," from the beginning.

On Thursday, the school secretary called the Bus Barn to confirm that we did indeed have a bus set to arrive for us at 8:30 am.  Well, at 8:35, the secretary called Transportation, and they said they didn't have our paperwork, so there was no bus.  She told them that she had confirmed the bus the day before.  Then they told her they were mistaken, and the driver was dispatched and on his way.  Twenty minutes later, when the bus was still not there, the secretary called again and was told that the driver had his dates mixed up, and he wasn't anywhere to be found.  They were looking for another driver.  Eventually (40 minutes late) a bus showed up, and we were on our way to the Window Rock Museum and Zoo.

I called the Museum and let them know we would be late.  They acted like they didn't know we were even coming, but after talking to the woman who set up our tour, they remembered after all.  When we got to the museum, we were told that all the workers who gave tours were at some meeting, and we were on our own.  Bummer.

Amy came with us as a chaperone.  I wish I could post pictures of some of the kids, but it's against policy to post recognizable pictures of the students without having their parents sign a waiver.

These are baby bighorn sheep.

My personal favorite was the raccoon.

Next, we went to the zoo.  We got there, and the Discovery Center was closed for cleaning.  Bummer.  The Park Director who was going to show us around and tell us about each of the animals was gone to Flagstaff for a meeting, so we were on our own.  Bummer.  At lunch time, we were eating by a little playground area, and a truck came to dump wood chips in the area, and we had to leave.  Bummer.  A grandma of one of my kids got into a confrontation with the guy that asked us to leave, and he got ticked off.  Bummer.

We got back on the bus and went to see the Window Rock.  It was beautiful.  We walked around awhile and looked at a few displays.  That part was nice.  Then we got back to school an hour and a half early, and had to figure out what to do with the kids because our trip was cut short.  We painted pictures of our field trip. 

This is the Code Talkers Memorial.  Hopefully with the kids this far away on a closed blog, I'm not violating anybody's privacy.

This is Window Rock.  There were folks walking up on top of it.  One of these days, I'd like to hike up to the top of it.

The kids had a good time.  They didn't realize that things weren't what they were supposed to be.  It wasn't a bust for them.  Some of the parents were a little miffed, though. Bummer.  But we didn't lose anyone.  No one got hurt.  Everyone got to see animals that are native to the area, and they got to ride on a bus.  No one even got sunburned, so I guess it wasn't all that bad.  Boy, were we ever pooped, though.