First Field Trip of the Year!

On Friday Maddie and I went on her 4th grade field trip to "River Rendezvous" in Bloomington. It was a living history day of the pioneers and Native Americans who first moved to that area.

Before we left I said to Mike (from experience) "This is going to be a long day." Not that it wouldn't be interesting but I knew there would be tons of walking, hot sun, and so much information that there might be an overload somewhere. Throw in about 100 kids, a 25 minute bus ride and it all amounts to a long day.

It was definitely informative and the kids seemed to take in a lot and asked some good questions. The highlight was the lady explaining about the amusement/medicine sales. She had them stare at a spinning circle and when they were done, they looked at her head and magically her head got bigger through illusion! This was how the "doctors" convinced people their eyesight was bad and they needed medicine.

Next we sat in a tepee and listened to a man discuss life on the river/movement of the tribes. Informative, but not as "thrilling". I will say, there were gasps when he told them it only took ONE person to put up a tepee, and that was the MOM!!!

After lunch we listened to how people made maple syrup and then got to taste actual sugar they made from the syrup right before our eyes. I'm not so sure it was a good idea to give a couple of these kids a little bit of sugar. But it sure was tasty!!

The day ended seeing the Native Pride Dancing Group. This was in a large tent full of about 300 screaming kids and a sound system any rock band would be proud of. As luck would have it, we were sitting right in front of one of the speakers. It was loud. I, being old, plugged one of my ears because my head was going to start pounding any minute. Maddie, being in 4th grade didn't want to look quite so ridiculous, so she lived through it. Did I mention how both of us are easily prone to headaches? This did it.

Thank goodness it was the last event because as soon as it was over, I knew she was done for the day. Quite frankly, I was too. Luckily we had another 25 minute ride back on a noisy, bumpy bus to still our heads.

Maddie's teacher let her go early and both of us got home, took some Tylenol and went to our separate areas for a nap. Like mother like daughter, huh?