in which i bravely take the bus

It might be hard to believe, given that Liam is in sixth grade, but today I went on my first field trip as a parent. There are a number of reasons I don't volunteer for them, particularly because (a) I get paid by the hour and don't have any vacation/personal time and (b) it seems like pretty much every other parent in the class wants to go, to the extent that they turn away volunteer chaperones because there's no room and (c) our field trips really do not excite me. When I was in school, we had field trips to all the major museums in Chicago, and to Conner Prairie in Indianapolis; now, money and time restrictions mean that the field trips are to a local dairy farm, to the zoo in South Bend, and on one memorable occasion, to the post office and library in our town. But this year, something exciting happened.

Apparently, the good folks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway do a full-day program every year specifically for fourth graders, and they pick which schools get to go via a lottery. This year, our school won the lottery, so in addition to the dairy farm, our fourth-grade classes got special dispensation to take an extra field trip that extended outside of school hours. They had restrictions on how many chaperones could go, so Max's teacher asked the parents he knows best, which includes me. (He was also Liam's teacher in fourth grade, so we go WAY back, ha ha.) So Max and I got up at dark o'clock this morning, packed our lunches, helped get the students organized, and then crammed ourselves (well, the cramming was more for me) into those super-comfy school bus seats, and off we went.

The program itself was pretty amazing. First, we toured the museum, where we got to see the trophy, sit in race cars, see lots of cars, and watch a movie about the history of the Indianapolis 500. After that, we had a presentation on the history of the race led by one of the race princesses (there are 33), then another presentation led by another princess on the various jobs people do at the speedway (the drivers, of course, but also the pit crew, the office people, the scientists, the owners, the vendors, and others who work behind the scenes).

After that, it was time for lunch, which we ate in the grandstands while a pace car raced around the track. The kids were VERY impressed by this, and I'll admit that I was too.

After lunch, we got to do some more fun stuff. We went to the pagoda, where yet another princess talked to the kids about the suites inside, then we got to go to the winner's circle and take pictures (!!), then the kids got to go and kiss the original bricks like the winner does every year (gross, but they loved it). After that, we went to another presentation on the science of the race (including how to make the walls more forgiving in the event of a crash, so neat), and then the kids got to sign a huge banner that the speedway provided and that came back to school with us as a memento. Our last stop of the day was another princess presentation on the various flags, after which the kids all got to wave the flags around in a frenzy. By the time we got back to the bus, the adults were pretty exhausted, but the kids found their second wind, so the ride home was LOUD. But we made it, and I guarantee that this will be the trip that Max remembers as his BEST FIELD TRIP EVER.

 

 

soccer time

Opening day for soccer was last week, and it was pretty rushed and hectic. Mike had mandatory overtime (HATE THAT), and Max and Henry had games at the same time in different towns. I went through about seven different people (thank goodness for my giant family!) before my aunt Janis volunteered to take Henry to his game (which was in Plymouth) so I could take Max to his game (which was in Rochester). But naturally, there was a family emergency that cropped up when Max and I were already on the road, so things got (even more) complicated. My grandpa got sick and needed to go to the emergency room, so he was running down HIS list of people to give him a ride (he doesn't drive) and Janis ended up being that person too (Max: "Aunt Janis volunteers to help EVERYBODY! How does she do it??"). She dropped Henry off at his game with Liam there to act as chaperone, and my dad ended up leaving his meeting a little bit early to pick them up. My grandpa had emergency surgery, but he is recovering nicely now. WHEW.

So today marked the second soccer game, and we had the same situation of mandatory overtime plus two games in two different towns. Happily, this week my parents were available, so Max spent the night with them (a highly coveted event!) and they took him out for breakfast and then off to his game in Culver. Meanwhile, Liam and I took Henry to his game in Plymouth. Both boys won, and both scored goals (YAY!), and I finally took some pictures. So here's Henry in action, kicking ball and taking names:

state parks project, part 6: shakamak

Mike and I took a day off so we could do a long weekend with the boys for spring break, and our destination Monday (before we headed home and back to the grind) was Shakamak State Park. We debated between trails, but eventually chose one that led through the woods and to an abandoned coal mine (which sounded very exciting) and eventually ended up along the banks of Lake Shakamak.

There were plenty of wooden bridges and steps along the way, so Liam was pretty happy (I guess it made up for the bridge being closed at Harmonie). About an hour in we came to the coal mine, and there was much excitement ... until we all realized it was really just the entrance to the coal mine. Nothing much to see except some smelly old dirt, as Henry informed us angrily.

So on we went, over streams and fallen logs, and we were almost to the lake part (so close to the end of our hike) when we discovered that a bridge had been destroyed by a tree. Mike thought maybe we would have to head back the way we came, but we ended up being able to (very carefully and with bated breath) climb over the tree and get across. We are really getting adventurous!

Once we got to the lake, we were excited to discover that there were TURTLES everywhere out sunning themselves. I don't know how they did it -- Can they smell us? Hear us? See us from far away? Feel vibrations or something? -- but those sneaky suckers would wait until *just* as I got my camera focused and then PLOP back under the water. I even sent Mike and the boys on ahead to the end of the trail and sat motionless for 10 or 15 minutes waiting for them to come up, but the clever little jerks had my number and didn't surface. We still managed to get a few good shots, though, so I feel secure that we retain our place at the top of the food chain.

On the way home, I tried to get the boys to come up with some sort of ranking system for these state parks, because so far everyone has a favorite, but (I think) none of the favorites are the same. But naturally, that discussion devolved into an argument about how the ranking system should be structured, and who got to have the ultimate power to decide on the proper ranking, so I just threw my hands up and decided we would just tell you if we liked the park or not. And I'm happy to say that we definitely liked Shakamak!

See also: SPP1, SPP2, SPP3, SPP4, SPP5.

an impromptu side trip

While we were visiting Harmonie State Park on Sunday, Mike said, "Hey, I think Shawnee National Forest is just across the river in Illinois." I'm just going to go ahead and say that he must have wanted to go, because after 15 years together (!!!) he knows that you can't dangle bait like that and not expect me to snatch it up.

So after a little searching on my phone (ah, internet!) and a quick stop for lunch, we arrived at a truly spectacular place: Garden of the Gods Recreation Area. There just aren't enough superlatives (and I know a LOT of superlatives) to describe it. The trail is about half a mile long, well-defined flagstone, but we stayed for a couple of hours because the boys (and ok, let's face it, me too) wanted to climb on every single rock formation. There aren't any guard rails or anything, so it was slightly (or EXTREMELY) anxiety-making from a parental standpoint, but the boys were fairly good about staying with one of us and not doing anything too dangerous.

At one point we split up because Liam and Henry wanted to go explore in one area, so Mike and Max went ahead. And then Liam spotted them at the top of a freaking cliff across the way. Check them out! Liam and Henry were SO MAD that Max got there first!

You know, we take little side trips fairly often when we go somewhere, and it's funny to me that the side trips often end up being the highlight of the whole adventure (see also: Triple Falls at Dupont State Forest, Amelia Island, Marengo Cave, and Washington, DC). This little side trip was no exception.

 

state parks project, part 5: harmonie

Spring break is upon us! This is the first year for our school district to use a balanced calendar, which means that we have two full weeks of spring break. Our original plan was to do an actual vacation this week, but that kind of fell through, so instead we decided to head out for a long weekend of state park fun. Then THAT plan was also almost thwarted by mandatory overtime for Mike. Sigh. In the end, we left Saturday afternoon. We got to our hotel around 8 p.m., and I ended up taking the boys swimming at the blessedly empty hotel pool for a loooooong time. Then Sunday morning the real adventure began.

Our target for this trip was Harmonie State Park in New Harmony. New Harmony itself was the home of two different utopian/religious societies, but that's a story for another day because the park itself doesn't feature any traces of them. We started out exploring the banks of the mighty Wabash River. And here is where I digress to disgorge a factoid from my lint-trap brain: The Wabash plays a prominent role not only in the state's official song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," but also in its unofficial anthem, "(Back Home Again in) Indiana," which I remember all the words to because we had to sing it for elementary school music programs. Also, it's kind of an earworm, so I won't link to any version of it lest you get stuck with it in your head like I have. Suffice it to say that the Wabash is kind of a big deal here.

Eventually, we made our way to a trail that led deep into the woods, and while we had fun, honestly, it was kind of generic as state parks go. Which is to say: We had a nice walk in the woods. We did see lots of butterflies, including swallowtails, and lots of interesting flowers, and some fish. Oh, and wild chives that Mike and the boys tried munching on. We had intended to take a little side trail off the main trail, but the bridge was closed, a fact that sent Liam into a funk from which he nearly didn't recover. But eventually, everyone got back with the program, and we finished up our hike, then took a quick drive around to look at the rest of the park.

Like I said, it seemed pretty average on the park scale, at least from what we've seen so far. It did have some impressive-looking mountain bike trails, so if we had brought our bikes, our rating might have been much higher. It was definitely a great place to spend a morning, but I'm not sure it's on our must-return list.

See also: SPP1, SPP2, SPP3, SPP4.