Why I work at night

...so I can chaperone not one, but TWO field trips. Last week the kids in Rachel's class went to Garden Springs, a park in Fairfax County about a 20-minute drive from our house, and the next day to Mount Vernon. I volunteered to accompany the kids on both trips, and that made Rachel VERY happy, according to Drew. "Can I be in my Mom's group?" Rachel asked Mrs. McAdam, who answered, "Of course!" Rachel had been looking forward to Mount Vernon for weeks: "We can hold hands," she said, and tour the house.

The Garden Springs trip was lovely -- I had never been to this particular park, and although the bugs were out, they didn't bother us much. We listened to a talk about pollination and bees, and then the kids got to touch a disused wasp's nest and other animal samples -- all inside. Then they went outside and listened to one of the park employees talk about trees, and how you can tell how old they are (Rachel already knew that), and we all took a little walk through the woods and then ate lunch outside. Rachel insisted we play a game of pots and og with her friends watching, and I explained the game to them. Pretty soon it was time for me to leave, go home, shower off and head in to work.

The next day was Mount Vernon -- not as much fun because the Mount Vernon folks didn't seem interested in making the home interesting to kids; their attitude was that the kids shouldn't talk or touch anything, etc. Plus it was extremely hot and humid and one of the kids in my group, Tasia, the one who always hugs me and calls me Mommy for reasons I don't understand, was quite difficult. Every once in a while she'd randomly scream, and kept running away, and digging in the dirt and trying to remove the surveyors' flags from the neatly maintained tree surrounds and flower beds ("Tasia, this isn't a playground," I had to scold her). Rachel's tummy hurt. Her friend Kira, who was also in our group, was a little easier to handle than Tasia. But it was hard keeping them all together, and we had to stand on a long line in the hot sun to go into the house. (Plus I was exhausted from staying up late to finish a freelance story I'd been working on.)

At least we got to eat lunch together at the beginning, and I managed to get home in just enough time to finish up my story and shower off all the sweat from the trip before heading in to work. And Drew said Rachel loved having me there, so it was all good.