14 Freshman and Nature............

Yesterday, I volunteered to be a chaperone for an all freshman field trip.

It was a moment of weakness.

I knew nothing about the details of the trip when I signed up but I have yet to REALLY hate any of the trips I have taken with the school so far. That includes the trip to the county prison. Yep, they take all the 8th graders to tour the county prison. I guess they figure they might as well introduce some of them to their future residence (did I say that out loud?)

Any hoo, we headed out yesterday morning for the boy scout camp about an hour away from the school. The kids were going to spend the day split into groups of about 13-17 kids doing team building exercises. Great idea for these guys....

But not so sure it was good for 14 year olds.

Gabby had warned me that my group had some trouble makers in it.

GREAT!

I get to be the nagging mom on a field trip! I'll be well loved.

We finally get there and get started in our first area. The kids are supposed to play extreme frisbee. Sooooo, the boys played and the girls stood in the middle. Great start!

Eventually we get to other areas and the day continues with much complaining....

I'm hot, why did we have to wear jeans, when is lunch, when are we leaving, why did we have to come here, is it almost time to go home, I'm thirsty. On and on and on and on.......

The kids did finally start to work together but not without much encouragement from the adults in the area. I heard that other teams did great - my team was not one of them.

By the end of the day and we are all lined up for dinner (God bless them that they catered a meal for us before sending us home) we were all tired, sweaty and ready to go home.

I discovered many things from my day with freshman.....

many of them think VERY highly of themselves
testasterone was everywhere
very few put others before themselves
they really are not much different than 3 years olds when it comes to obedience
they will give adults they don't know the look of death (you know the one, you did it when you were a teenager)
respect for authority is next to none

I also discovered something about myself......

I am not so found of nature. I love it while standing in my home and looking out but please don't make me stay outside in the sun with bugs buzzing around me while all the seasonal stuff flies around me. It just makes me itch!

Also, I firmly believe that ALL bathrooms no matter where they are located should have a sink and soap! That is right folks. The whole time we were their we found 1 bathroom that had a sink and soap. All the rest had just a toilet and I was just praying that a snake did not slither through as I was using the facilities.

Yes, you can say it....

GROSS!

So, with Abby going into 9th next year am I going to sign up to go next year?

Not even going there right now - we have to get them through the prison trip first. We may have to leave half of them there. Not sure that would be a bad thing :}

Hugs!

Jeanette