I was all set to give you the details of the 8th grade trip from the other day, but then I realize, nobody really gives a rat's ass about it other than me! So, instead, I did want to share a few things I've been thinking about in regards to my baby and his friends. Let me tell you, however, what our schedule was like on the day of the trip, just so you can appreciate why I'm always so tired...
7:30 Arrive at school. The kids start school at 7:50. I dropped off my darling, then went to the corner for Dunkin Donuts coffee, naturally.
8:15 Kids start coming down to get on the bus, name tags are passed out, etc.
8:30 Bus pulls away from the school, headed to Medieval Times in Shaumburg.
10:30 Arrive in Shaumburg. Oh, no, that's NOT a typo. Two freakin' hours!!!!! The biggest problem is the route the bus driver chose to take. I won't bother to get into, especially because only my Chicago friends would understand it anyway. Let's just say, two hours is far too long to make an old lady sit on a bus once she's had a large Dunkin Donuts coffee. I had to finally give in to the demands of my bladder, and use the bathroom on the bus. I have to say, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Very clean, for sure. Just tiny and bumpy.
11:00 The show started. The kids had about 25 minutes to walk around the gift shops and take pictures and stuff before the show. The show was a lot of fun. Lunch was a bit difficult for some of the kids. If you aren't familiar with Medieval Times, you're served a meal that you then must eat without utensils. There's a cup of soup, that you have to drink, then they bring you a half a chicken with a potato wedge, which you then have to eat with your hands. Finally, they bring out big chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Many of the kids had trouble dealing with the chicken, since they're used to their chicken being cut into separate pieces (leg, wing, thigh, breast) plus, let's face it, it's messy! Then, on top of that, the meal is served during the show, so it's pretty dark. But, I guess the kids weren't that bothered by it, because they were more involved with watching the show.
1:30 Load back on the bus, head downtown.
2:30 Arrive at the McCormick Freedom Museum, meet up with our guide from the agency that put the trip together. The kids explored the museum a bit, but truly weren't that interested in doing anything the least bit educational that day. I should be embarrassed to admit, I was hitting a slump at this point (I think my Dunkin Donuts wore off!), and basically sat in a chair for nearly the entire time we were there. I'm going to have to go back on my own with my son to really see what the museum has to offer.
3:30 Back on the bus to head to Navy Pier. Oh, but wait! One of the little darlings says she has to go back in because she left her IPod in the museum. She and the guide go running back in, while Mrs. M. lectures the rest of the kids about how now we're going to be late because one of their classmates was irresponsible, and really, she shouldn't have brought the IPod anyway, so on and so on. The teacher in me was saying the exact same thing to myself. After a few minutes, one of the boys says, "Mrs. M., why did T go back into the museum? She gave me her IPod to hold, and I have it." Well, I thought Mrs. M., was going to slap him. Now, we're trying to call the guide to tell her we found it, but we couldn't get through on her phone. Luckily, they were back in just a matter of minutes anyway. I have a feeling T remembered she gave her IPod to someone to hold. We finally get under way about 3:45.
4:15 We begin boarding the boat for our architectural tour on the river. It was wonderful! The only problem was that it was FREEZING! By this point, the sun had become hidden by clouds, and we did feel a few drops as we pulled away from the dock. Luckily, the rain held off, but it was very cold and windy during our ride.
5:15 Disembark, head over to Navy Pier so the kids could walk around and explore for a little while. Somehow, we got behind our original schedule, because the kids only had about 45 minutes, instead of the hour and a half we were first told. But, it was fine, they didn't care. I had to just keep telling them to please try and not eat much, especially junk food, because we were going to be going to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at 6:30. Yeah, well, no such luck. Nearly every group of kids I passed as I walked around had something to munch, like ice cream, candy, Starbucks, popcorn, whatever. I couldn't blame them, though. 7:00 was an awfully late dinner time for kids who ate lunch at 11:30.
I wasn't any better. As soon as we got off that boat, I headed straight to Starbucks for a venti sugar-free, fat-free caramel macchiato. YUM!! That was more because I was frozen, but it hit the spot! I did manage to get my son to meet me a few minutes before we had to leave to take a picture with me in one of the photo booths. We try to hit this particular booth every time we go to Navy Pier. It prints a photo that looks like someone drew it with a pencil. Very cool! I have a bunch framed and hanging in my living room. They're in chronological order, so it's really neat to see how my son has changed over the years. And how old I've become!! :(
6:30 Back on the bus, head over to Rainforest Cafe. Luckily, they were totally ready for us when we arrived at 7:00, so we didn't have to wait. We sat down immediately, and they started bringing on the food. Surprisingly, there was a salad on every table (my son was happy about that!) then they brought each table a pepperoni pizza, a plate of cheeseburgers, and a platter of french fries covered with chicken fingers. They later brought a plate of chocolate chip cookies. The kids finished up their feast of bad foods, and headed over to the gift shop. They were able to shop for about 45 minutes before we had to get back on the bus and head home.
8:30 Arrive back at school. Luckily, at that time of night, the expressway was empty, and we made it back to school in 15 minutes. Our bus driver was a really sweet guy named Bob, who the kids immediately took a liking to. Can I just tell you what sweet kids these are? The majority of them got back on the bus after Rainforest with gifts for Bob. Yes, really! He had a bag full of things by the time they all were seated. He was really moved by their generosity, and was very appreciative of their gifts. It was a very proud moment, as their "mom."
By the time all the kids were picked up, and we arrived home, it was after 9:30. What a looonnnggg day. But, I loved every minute of it. I hope my son enjoyed it as much as I did.
Jeezaloo, didn't I say I WASN'T going to give all the details?! If you're still reading, my apologies! What I said I wanted to tell you about was the kids. I'll save it for another day, when your eyeballs aren't bleeding! I'm off to start baking for the graduation party tomorrow. (Did I mention my sister and I are having a party for our kids tomorrow? My niece graduated this past Wednesday, my son graduates next Monday, so we're having a combined party to make it a little easier on our family) It figures it would be warm and sunny today, doesn't it? Not exactly ideal baking weather, but what are gonna do? I need to get over to the bar soon, too, since I missed several days this week, and I have to catch up on my duties. God, I can't wait for school to be over!!! Maybe then I can catch up on some freakin' sleep!!! Preferably in my hammock! :) Have a great weekend!
Check out the description on the box! Pimpin Stein!?! LOVE IT!!
I LOVE it!! He and I were cracking up, especially after we had to translate for all the seriously Caucasian people in our group. While my brother was gone, I had taken that opportunity to mix myself a couple of margaritas (that's right, I said a couple.) I had made them in BIG pint glasses, so there was quite a bit of heaven there. When he brought me my goblet, I washed it out, and then poured my two drinks into it. They didn't even fill it half-way! I LOVE this thing! I decided I'd better finish what was in there instead of filling it up all the way. Good thing, because I made those margaritas a little on the strong side, and by the time I was half through, I was trashed! More friends joined us in the meantime, including my Dori, and a good time was had by all. At some point, my brother turned off the music, and announced to the entire bar that it was my birthday, and had everyone sing to me (just like we did for my dad a few weeks ago). It was very sweet! My mom and sister then served ice cream topped brownies to the whole bar.
The only thing is that now, my kitchen is starting to feel like a funeral home, with all these flowers!
Hey, remember way back when, when I started a blog to tell you about life as a CPS teacher? Baby Story Alert!
Since I'm showing you all my pretty flowers, I wanted to show you my favorite thing in my backyard. My lilac bush!! It always opens it blossoms the week of my birthday. That's so nice of it, isn't it? My yard has smelled heavenly for the past week or so. I usually have my hammock on my deck right in front of the bush, and I literally just lie there and drink in the heavenly scent of lilac.
