Grade 5/6 Field Trip to Edmonton

I was able to chaperone, along with 10 other mom's and dad's, the Grade 5/6 field trip to Edmonton to visit the Legislature buildings.  It was a jam packed yet fun three days!  I sure enjoyed my visits with the other moms and felt a real connection to each of them!!

The first day started out very early!  We boarded a fancy coach bus in Champion at 7:00am and made our way to Red Deer where we stopped for a pee break!  Even though the bus did have a flushable toilet, we encouraged the kids to only use it if in dire need...an emergency!!  From Red Deer we drove straight to the Telus World of Science where we ate our lunch before heading in to see the exhibits!  The kids had a blast inside, the one about the body was interesting but extremely gross.  At the Science Centre we also got to go to a workshop called "Come Fly With Me" and the kids got to make their own paper airplanes and learn all about how the parts of a plane work to make it stay in the air.  After this workshop we got to watch an IMAX show all about flight and how it has connected us to the rest of the world in such a short time!!

After the Science Centre we took the bus to our accommodations for the next two nights, MacKenzie Hall at the University of Alberta.  The girls had one wing, the boys had another and our bus driver had his own!  The kids were beyond excited, they were utterly giddy getting unpacked and settled in!  Us adults got supper ready and things for the kids to make their lunches for the next day. The kids visited, played and watched a movie.  There were snacks before bed and lights out by 10:30pm.  It had been along day!

Mine and Char's room

Emry Unpacking all her stuff

Gilbert with his room mates!!

Day Two was a trip to The Bennett Centre where the kids got to learn about trees and forests. A little on the boring side, I thought...but the kids enjoyed themselves.  We ate our lunches there and then went on a little hike along the river.  That was fun and even I learned a little bit about trees that I hadn't known.  We got back to the dorms for some much needed free time and the kids had fun playing a variety of games and visiting.  Pizza for supper was ordered in and then we headed over to the Terwilliger Recreation Centre to swim.  I decided I would go for a nice soak in the hot tub and even ended up going into the pool to try out the lazy river.  Well, it was not a lazy river at all, more like raging rapids!!  It was fun though and kept the kids occupied for long stretches of our time there, as did the diving boards!  Most of the kids went off the 12 foot cement diving board, Emry was upset with herself for chickening out.  We swam for 2 hours before taking a bunch of tired kids back to the dorm for a late snack and bedtime!  The floor became quiet a lot quicker that second night!!

Morning came quickly and we packed up and had a yummy breakfast of muffins, yogurt and fruit.  We then headed over to the Legislature buildings where we were able to tour the main building, sit in on a question and answer session, go to an interpretive exhibit of the history of Alberta and see paintings by the Group of Seven.  The Legislature is a beautiful building built in 1912, and a lot of the building is still original.  I found sitting in on the session to be quite embarrassing, I am not a political person at all so to sit and listen to grown ups antagonize each other and then boisterously laugh at one another when an answer they don't like is said, just makes me very uncomfortable.  We got to meet our MLA and have our picture taken with him on the steps into the Legislature building, the kids found this to be so cool.  In one of the underground walkways there is a depiction of the Legislature building made entirely our of Lego, so cool.  Over 120,000 pieces were used to create it, it was spectacular.

The Legoslature!!!

The Grade 5/6's with our MLA Dave Schneider

It was now time to board the bus for home, with a stop in Red Deer for supper.  Everyone was looking forward to that bus ride to sit for awhile and just do nothing!! The ride to Red Deer was quite quiet!! Lots of seats with no heads, as most of the kids were curled up and asleep.

I was so impressed with the behavior from the Champion kids.  So polite and well behaved.  Parents need to be so proud of the children they are raising.  There were no petty fights, no tears, no complaints of what was happening or not happening.  The food was well received with no complaints there either.  I gained more respect for our teachers who came on the trip than I had already had, and my respect for them was already quite high!! They didn't stop, ever.  If a child needed something they instantly went and helped them with whatever it was.  They made sure everyone had what they needed before attending to their own needs.  They are loving, compassionate and accepting of all the kids.  I am so thankful our children get to have them as their teachers and get to learn from them and grow into well rounded adults because of them.  I couldn't be more proud of the school they go to than I am now.  It really was a great, educational trip.  I hope all the kids had as much as I did.