Field Trip!!!!!

Last year I wasn't able to go on any of Hunter's field trips because of my restrictions and so this year I was very excited to get to chaperone one of his trips. The kids went to see the Arizona Ballet Company perform the Nutcracker Ballet at the Phoenix Symphony Hall. I am not going to lie Hunter was not exactly thrilled about going to watch a ballet. I tried to excite him by talking about the soldiers and the rat king and any other boyish element of the story. They also had the kids dress up in Sunday best which I thought was really nice. There were four kids in our group we took the bus down to downtown Phoenix. Yes I did take this picture of us on the bus. I love the face of the teacher behind us. Says it all about field trips from a teacher's point of view doesn't it? There is a little girl in his class named Allison and they have liked each other off and on all throughout the year. As we are sitting on the bus his buddies are talking about how Allison said that she likes him and they are all giggling about it. Allison and another little girl were sitting up front making silly faces and waving at him in the mirror above the driver. This goes back and forth for a few minutes and then Allison looks up at the mirror and blows a kiss to the mirror. Hunter got this funny, embarrassed look on his face and they all started laughing. Gross one of the boys laughed "she blew a kiss at you Hunter" He laughed with them but I could tell that part of him liked the fact that she had paid this attention to him. As a mom I couldn't help but have visions of sixteen year old girls calling my house and talking to Hunter outside at school. Not sure if I am ever going to be ready for that. Once we got there we walked in the Symphony Hall and it was so neat. Most of the kids had never been in a building that big or ever seen a balcony before and they were all intrigued. We arrived early and were able to watch the dancers take their warm up class before the show. Lots of men doing lots of leaping in very tight tights. This led to a lot of furrowed eyebrows and negative comments from the boys. A lot of commitments to ask their moms to start dance class from the girls and expressed desires to be a ballerina too one day. After the warm up they had one of the ballerina's do a Q&A session with the audience and were taking kids questions. Kids were asking all sorts of questions about dancing and the life of a ballerina and the story of the Nutcracker. Hunter raised his hand and waited patiently. "What are you going to ask bud?" I said happy that he had finally found some interest in the dancing. "I want to know what type of machine it is that makes the certains go up and down on the stage and how it works." Go figure, I thought. They only did a small portion of the whole ballet for the kids to see. As an adult I loved it and thought it was beautiful. The kids did okay. However the part they picked had no rats, no soldiers, not even the nutcracker. We ended up watching the sugar plum fairies and the different dances from around the world. At the end Hunter was instantly questioning where the boy things were that I had told him about. How was I supposed to know that they wouldn't even show the kids the Nutcracker when we went to see it. Once we got outside it had started pouring down rain. I'm sure it was entertaining for the people driving by seeing adults trying to maneuver bus loads of kids through downtown Phoenix streets in pouring rain. The boys loving it and trying to find puddles to splash in, the girls complain about being cold and getting their dresses wet. We originally were supposed to go to the park and eat lunch afterward but due to weather we headed back to the school . There we turned off the lights in the room and ate our lunches at the desks and watched A Chipmunk Christmas Carol. It was really fun to go but most of all fun to watch him interact with his peers. Then it was off to go pick up the girls from Aunt Lisa's house. As soon as I got there Ave piped up, "Mom you are back already?" and Emma took one look at me and literally started going, "MMMMMmmmmmmmm" at me. Nice.