Life is a Carousel

A week ago today Spidey and I went on his class room field trip to our local ZOO. Now, we are from STL and it has one of the bestest (the only right way to describe it) ZOO's in the nation (perhaps we are biased, but my friend MJB told me this once and she used to work for the SanDiego Wildlife park (correct me if I am wrong MJB)). Anyway, given the tiny nature of our new towns zoo I was pretty certain the day was going to drag on forever. I mean, seriously, this zoo is like Noah's Ark - there are two of each animal they own (not really, some of the animals have died and there are only 1 of each animal) - with those kinda numbers how long can one last at a zoo? To my surprise a long time!

We started the day by riding the bus to our destination. Fun. Spidey and his friend CH were my partners. Their little tushies made the ride bearable. Then we immediately ate lunch. It was super windy and cold and just finished being rainy which added a super chill (it was kinda a downer for a picnic). Not much fun. However, through out lunch we sang and acted a little silly. There were 5 kids in my group and I had charge of them - but they were on a field trip the zoo so I let them run a bit and act silly (that was fun and uplifting). Swear to goodness - another mom came over and corrected the kids with me there like I didn't know what I was doing, basically reprimanding me for letting them goof. Told them to eat their lunch - looked at their lunches (I guess to point out what they needed to eat) and then realized they were pretty much done - I did think "nah nah" for a second (she was kinda a downer). A teacher came over too - apparently my kids were "out of control!!", but once she saw they were done eating she said, "Oh, great you guys are all done." smiled at me and walked away. I don't think our teacher would have bothered me - she trusts me.

Off to the park - after a very very very long potty break. Every kid went and I entertained those waiting with "If you are Happy and You Know it". We touched the ground, jumped around, roared like lions, barked like cats (they thought that was funny) and so on. It helped (and it was uplifting and fun) because that mom from the other class would probably have come over had we continued to stand in line and didn't look organized. Once to the playground for some wild time a kiddo walked up to Mrs.R (our teach) and I and said the obvious, "I have to go to the bathroom!" To which we said the obvious, "But we just went, didn't you go?" To which he said the obvious, "No." So I took him. As I am waiting for him another lady came up with her son - also on a field trip. Then we heard crying. I said to her, "I think your kiddo is crying." and out he came happy as came be and said, "That boy is crying." So in I went. We all know what is next right? He wet his pants (total downer). I assured him that everyone has accidents like this (I was thinking of Spidey and just a few days earlier) - he asked "who" and I hesitated telling him "who" so I just said everyone, even his mom and dad. To which he said, "no way" and I pointed out how after long rides isn't his mom the first one to run to the bathroom? He agreed. I said that was because she held it almost too long. He was cheered. I called his mom on my cell and asked her to meet us at the front of the zoo with fresh clothes. I think I freaked her out by saying, "Hi this is Patti, Spidey's mom. Well, I am on the field trip and I am afraid that you kiddo had an accident." All was good though. We disguised his wet spot with his jacket and I told him no one would know and I would hang with him until his mom got there. He was totally down and embarrassed. We told Mrs.R - she thanked me and assured him - we hung back. Some kids asked him to come on the slide and he said, "No, I had an accident." Really quiet like. Then, when he realized they didn't really care he screamed it - guess he wasn't so terribly concerned about all the kids knowing. It was touching that he wanted me to stay and be his protector. And I did, Spidey didn't seem to care. Now he and I are buds forever (very uplifting).

The rest of the day was us going from animal to animal - the tour guide was great. The biggest hit of all for the kids was the carousel. Again - in STL we had the coolest new carousel with all the endangered animals of the world on it. They were bigger then me and I could have ridden them without fear of breaking the thing. This carousel is terribly cute, but not much bigger then the one at ChuckECheese (okay, 6 times bigger). Anyway, as I watched the kids take turns I realized that they were going up and down and up and down - just like the trip - good things, not so good, good things and life is just like that - up and down - cold lunch, fun lunch, wet pants, dry pants, new friends, old friends, big zoo, small intimate zoo, up and down.

Gotta go get Babers - he is up now.