Field Trip with Rachel

This was the first school year that I signed up to be a room mom. Rachel loved that I helped with the parties at her school. Another benefit of being room mom was being invited to be a chaperone for the field trip. They were only allowing one parent per class, so I got lucky. In years past it hasn't been that way. But this year they were seeing a play and had limited seating. So, I was glad I was able to go and spend the day with Rachel. I had actually just gotten back the day before from a recruiting trip up to BYU with Andy. We got to escape while my parents came down to watch the kids. It was very nice! It was the first time in a long time that spouses had been invited, so it was fun that we got to take them up on the offer. Anyhow, so my parents stuck around an extra day so they could watch Audrey and Ian while I went on the field trip with Rachel. Everything worked out grand!

We went downtown to the Main Street Theater to watch "A Year with Frog and Toad". I snapped a quick picture of Rachel before the play started. Poor girl, you can see her allergies have now hit. Miserable, puffy eyes...breaks my heart!

The play was pretty good. The students enjoyed it and were well behaved. It was a great field trip to chaperone for because you just had to get the kids into the theater and then back on the bus. Here's the cast:

After the play we headed over to Hermann Park to enjoy a picnic lunch outdoors. The weather was prefect! Here's my girl and I:

The kids then got the chance to get the wiggles out a bit before heading back to school. I grabbed a picture of Rachel with her best buddy at school, Kayla:

Every time I see these girls together I kind of chuckle inside. They are total opposites by appearance, but they are inseparable at school. They adore each other... Kayla pretty much takes it upon herself to "protect" Rachel. It's really sweet. They were in the same class in kindergarten, but not last year. It'll be interesting to see what happens in 3rd grade. I'm grateful for the good friends that Rachel is able to make at school.

Overall, it was a fun day. I feel blessed to be able to participate in little things like this. Some of my best memories as a kid were when my mom or dad went on a field trip with me. You just feel so special and pretty darn proud that your parent took the time to go with you. I'm grateful for this opportunity and one of these days I'm going to get Andy to go on a field trip... :) Dads need that opportunity, too.