Taking a break from the countdown to briefly describe APD's 4th grade OBX trip. Thanks to KMD's dedicated service throughout the year, I was fortunate enough to be a chaperone.
We met at his school at 6:15a Thursday and got on a really nice bus.
1st stop was at Fort Raleigh. Very interesting site. The colonization of America didn't get off to the best of starts.
2nd stop was Roanoke Island Festival Park. That was really cool. The kids got to "work" as if they were part of the first colony. They worked on a ship, w/ a blacksmith, & learned some dances.
3rd stop was Jockey's Ridge State Park which is a series of tall natural sand dunes. It had been raining all day & was about 59 degrees, so there was some doubt as to whether the kids would be able to do this part, but we went ahead & did it. Because they didn't want sand in the kids shoes, we all did it barefoot. The kids loved it & I got off my best line of the trip, remarking to another chaperone (re: the barefoot slogging uphill in a steady, wind-driven, cold rain) ... "This isn't a field trip. It's a hazing." Ha. I'm pretty funny.
After that we went to Pizza Hut (no link, I'm supposing you've seen one at some point) and retired for the evening at a church's gym. The kids played basketball & rollerskated from 8-10p, then crashed for the evening. Sleeping on a basketball floor is something I can going another few years w/o doing again. We ended the day w/ a really nice talk from his teacher about how God had blessed these kids w/ so much and it was up to them to do something w/ those blessings. It was powerful. The second best part was after that when APD's teacher (who is outstanding) was on his last frayed nerve after all day w/ that many 10 yr old boys & 10-15 minutes of mayhem in the dark said "the next one that talks of gets up is getting the air let out of his air mattress." That quieted them down.
On Friday, we started out at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. It had stopped raining, but was still cool and very breezy. At the top of the monument hill, it was probably sustained 30 mph which the kids loved. There were pictures taken. One of me & APD, if it turns out, I'll post it. Pretty cool up there as you can see the Atlantic and the Sound. The museum itself was solid w/ a really nice presentation. The kids got to run along the paths of the first four flights. APD was able to beat the plane on it's first three flights.
The last stop was in Washington NC at the North Carolina Estuarium. It was cool. Featured a museum and a nice walk along the Pamlico River. We saw a muskrat and some baby ducks.
We ate dinner at a Golden Corral & got back home at 8p. (In time for me to get to a 9p softball game where I threw two runners out from LCF, but we lost.) It was just a really special time to watch APD as a member of this big group of kids. He cares so much about his friends. It's cool to watch.
