Averi had a school field trip yesterday, and I got to chaperone. I had been excited about the trip too, cause it was to see a play. I should not have been excited. The play was less than mediocre. And don’t get me started on the wigs the actors wore. But the kids had fun, and apparently that is what matters.

Two things came up during the course of the day. The first was another crazy story about someone going to the school illegally. The second was how sheltered our kids lives are, compared to ours.

Lets start with the first. I’ve talked about how insanely big our school is, and how I wouldn’t be surprised if at least a quarter of the school was there illegally. There are three ways people do this – they use a family or friends address; they buy a condo in the area which they then rent out while they live somewhere bigger and/or cheaper nearby and use the condo’s address; they live here for the first year, which is the only year the school requires proof of residency, and then they move somewhere bigger and/or cheaper nearby.

So, back to the field trip. Averi’s class and another class shared a bus.

As the bus left our area it traveled through all the close, but not our district, neighborhoods. And various kids pointed out their houses. In the close, but not our district, neighborhoods. I was sitting up at the front of the bus, with the sub for Averi’s class and the teacher from the other class. We started talking about the problem and the teacher told the craziest story. She had a kid who was at the school illegally. “Someone” reported it. The school social worker called the parents to set up a meeting, at their home, to check on the situation.

The social worker went to their condo, and met with their family. She saw their pictures set up around the place and the girls bedroom. Then she turned in her report that said the house she met them in was actually an empty condo that was on the market and represented by the real estate agent mom who had staged it just for the school meeting. Can you imagine going to those lengths? Or being so annoying that someone was willing to go to great effort to get your kid kicked out. It’s a good thing we are in the area legally. Otherwise I might need to stop volunteering in the cafeteria. 🙂

Now on to topic number two, how sheltered our kids are. Averi and I walked to school, as since I would be on the field trip I was worried about leaving my car there all day. During the walk Averi was talking (and talking and talking and talking) about how excited she was to go on a bus. She asked me about field trips I had taken as a kid, and I told her how I went to summer camp and we rode a bus at least three times a week. Then I started singing the song we used to sing to the bus driver at the end of every trip. It went a little something like this:

best singers

“Hurray for the bus driver, the bus driver, the bus driver

Hurray for the bus driver, the best in the land

He drinks, he smokes, he tells dirty jokes…”

And then I kept singing while I was internally thinking “I can’t believe I am singing to my 7 year old about drinking, smoking and telling dirty jokes”. And then when I got to the line that includes the world “hell”, I almost stopped singing. But I wouldn’t be me if I had. 🙂

When I finished the song, though, Averi was very concerned. She asked me if the bus driver would really drink and smoke and tell dirty jokes. I told her no, it was just to make a funny song. And that we had better senses of humor when I was a kid. And then I warned her not to repeat the song to any of her friends.

Luckily she didn’t and the field trip went smoothly. Until it was time to picnic after. The buses took us to a park. First the kids whined that they wanted to sit on the benches. I told them no, they were kids and were therefore contractually obligated to sit on the ground. They sat and ate.

Then, being kids, they begged to actually play at the playground. Obviously, the sub and I let them. And then two teachers came over and told us that we shouldn’t let them play because we hadn’t gotten permission from their parents specifically allowing them to play, and what if they got hurt. Really? We need specific permission now to let a kid play in a kids park? Ridiculous. The sub and I agreed that this is where it was beneficial to be a sub and a volunteer, and we let them keep playing. No one got hurt.

Well, thats not true. A couple of the boys egos were hurt when the girls totally beat them at shimmying up the poles and hanging from the pull up bar. Those girls had some crazy good upper body strength!

And that was the field trip. We walked home in muggy weather and needed something refreshing to enjoy. Frozen Lemonade Pie it was! Super simple and no cooking required, which is great because who wants to use their stove and heat up the kitchen when you are hot? The pie is tart and light and fun.

Make it and enjoy it, while singing dirty songs and allowing your kids to play with abandon. 🙂