In Jonathan parlance, a field trip means just that: a trip to the field.
[Side note: having just weathered his first northern winter, the oft-used parental phrase "when it gets warmer" has come to mean anything loosely associated with paradise e.g. "when it gets warmer, we'll go to the field every day."]
This week we joined a group of other (grand)mamas with pre-schoolers for a trip to the
Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota in Mankato. The first great moment of the day was getting to go in an actual school bus! (we weren't the only ones singing "the wheels of the bus go 'round and 'round" on the way to town, as it turns out.) Seriously exciting.
Here is Jonathan with his friend and third cousin, Kirsten.
And here Anna and I are feeling a bit nauseated, while Jonathan is all bouncy. No one hurled, and in fact, it was quite a pleasant one hour journey there and back (except for the 10 minutes or so on the way home after lunch, when a super-tired Anna wouldn't believe that I had, in fact, forgotten her nookie at home).
The museum was pretty great for our kids' age level - nothing too sophisticated or scientific, but good, creative fun. Here is a bridge (and piano innards) that Anna loved. Added bonus: now she'll surely be able to conquer the tiny slope in the Care & Share shop.
This was a giant "playhouse," full of tunnels, ladders, slopes, a swinging bridge, a bucket on a pulley/rope, and more. I much enjoyed just sitting there and watching the children's exuberant play, and how our kids interacted with the others (turns out Jonathan
is pretty chatty in English..."Have you more books, Tante Sara?").
Playing with water...something Jonathan grew up doing in warmer climes, and Anna knows very little about.
Working the till with Emma, while Kirsten wonders why it all has to take so long....
transferring fistfuls of sand onto the floor...
and checking out a cartful of produce with the helpful checkout lady.
It was really a fun day for all of us. And then we came home and took two and a half hour naps, which was the best part of all.
1 comment:
The kids' faces on the bus is absolutely hysterical! Glad that you had such a lovely time. We've enjoyed going to the Children's Museum here, which is has been described as "The Kids Corner in Heaven".
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