Field Trip

Last week, Emily's 3rd grade class took a field trip to UCR. They had just finished their biome projects and were supposed to go on a field trip to visit a biome. Originally they were supposed to go to see a tide pool but that didn't quite work out for them and time was running out for the year so they opted to just go to the UCR botanic gardens. Luckily, we could just walk there.

I went as a chaperone. Christian met us on the way there and joined us. It had been a scorcher of a week but the last two days was quite pleasant and somewhat overcast in the mornings and it made for a much nicer walk.

We took a quick tour through the gardens. We were a bit disappointed that our docent was not more knowledgeable (but I guess they are all volunteers). At least she knew the desert plants pretty well and that was more interesting.

After we finished, we headed to the entomology department for a quick little lecture. One of the girls in our group was not feeling well. She had been out most of the week due to some stomach problems already and they hadn't really figured out what was wrong with her. I don't know why they thought it was a good idea for her to go on a strenuous walking field trip in the heat. We had to arrange for someone to drive her back to school to call her parents. Emily's teacher ended up taking off to make the arrangements and Christian and I ended up leading the entire 3rd grade to Entomology.

Due to more scheduling problems, we ended up in the hallway to the side of the main entry instead of the courtyard but it worked out for the most part. They talked about bugs in general, got to see some displays and to handle a couple of live bugs. There were a few activities included.

When we were done, we headed back to the gardens to pick up their lunches and ended up on the lawn next to A&I for a picnic as the botanic gardens was booked all afternoon for similar groups. The fifth graders of their school was on the same field trip and they were expecting another group afterwards.

Mother's Day

I'll forgo the annual Mother's Day rant  as I've already stated my opinion on the matter. Only, I refuse to participate in the farce if I can help it.

So this Mother's Day, Christian made us a breakfast of homemade english muffins.

The girls got me some awesome cookbooks and presented me with the Mother's Day crafts they made at school along with some other miscellaneous tokens of love.

Christian got me a little kitchen island to replace the little oval table for two we got when we first got married (some 14 years ago) which I was using as an extension of our kitchen counters because there simply is not enough here. But I also had a bunch of junk piled underneath it because there is just not enough storage space for all my stuff. It was a veritable mess. He actually got it early for me. We bought it as soon as we found it because it fit the dimensions of what we wanted to match the counters already in the kitchen and to maximize the space available for us to use (plus budgetary concerns). We have actually been looking on and off for something like this since we moved in and finally came upon something that would work for us. I love it.

And then we prepared for a potluck picnic lunch for my mother. My sister and brother decided that we should meet up at a park in Orange County. We were running a bit late as we were not feeling that well this morning.

When we finally got on our way, we got stuck in traffic. The 91 freeway was a parking lot up until after the 71. It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get there. It was insane. Of course when we arrived, we found out the park had inflated it's normal entrance fee for the occasion.

Overall, despite the traffic and price gouging, we had a pleasant afternoon with my family. The kids got to play with their cousins.

Unfortunately, my mother was not feeling well either. Luckily she felt well enough that day to come out with us. Of course, Christian's sickness was getting worse and has been at home with me this week because of it. Emily was sick a couple of weeks ago and Caitlyn stayed home with the same sickness the week after that. Now it seems is our turn although, I don't seem to have it as bad as everyone else.