Notes on A Field Trip

The bus was late. Very, very, VERY late. This is the face Mommy tried not to make because, the bus being an hour late meant that the kids had approximately ten minutes to look at animals before lunch. I'm not exaggerating.

Since 98% of Collin's joy pertaining to today's zoo field trip was the bus ride, he was not disappointed (at least until we got to the zoo that was). Can you tell he was excited to get on the bus? Ignore the flames shooting off the side of his face. It's hard to take a picture of your kid getting on a bus for the first time while being shooed on yourself at rapid-fire pace because, as noted, the bus was an hour late. Lighting was not considered.

He spent the entire bus ride in one of two positions. Position one:

Position two, I like to call, "harassing Krishan" (however, Krishan found it wildly entertaining and made little squeaky noises that I can only assume meant, "hey, where the heck did your harassing fingers go? Come back!" every time he stopped). Anyway, the bus ride was popular with the Collin half of the McClain clan that went on the bus. The Rachel half found it unpleasant and will not be checking the box that says, "riding the bus" next time on the permission slip. Been there, done that. Thank you. We'll be driving next time. Hot, loud and did I mention an hour late? We were not done with the waiting once we arrived at the zoo, however. Since we have a family annual pass to the L.A. zoo, Collin and I slipped through the gate and didn't have to wait through the ticket gate where the class processed. Yep, more waiting for us. Not to fear, he wasn't antsy to "come on, Mommy!! I waaaaaaannnnna see the (fill in the animal of the second)." In case you can't tell, there's sarcasm there. The thirty minutes it took the class to get through the gate wasn't long at all. Not...at...all.Rapidly shooing the kids through the back of the zoo, few animals to be seen, to the lunch spot, so we could make it back to the bus in time to make it back to the school, made Collin a little (a lot) pissy. He was whiny, crabby and ornery. He threw angry, angst filled yelling matches at me and I was totally mortified. I kept looking around, thinking, "Is my kid the only one acting this way?" A fruit roll up helped. He did get one minute, and I do mean ONE MINUTE on the play structure at the lunch spot. That ticked him off even more. But, when you choose to poop at every public place you go to, that's the price you pay, dude. Alas, we were left behind at that bathroom an nearly lost at the zoo, left forever, forlorn and lost. Thanks for your public pooping fetish, Collin. Thanks. It's not embarrassing at all or anything. Not even when you combine it with the fact that you were acting like a total turd. Thank goodness I love you so much. Apparently, though when we walked with Ms. Jacqui and he held her hand, and/or Wolfie's hand, he behaved like an angel. Seriously. It was like someone took out the extra battery out of him and he just mellowed. I mean, who is this kid? At the end of the day, how can I expect my kid, who I know is more high-energy and a little more OCD than the average kid (yet another of my wonderful traits that he's managed to get from me), to behave in a situation that is out of control and in a situation in which he has no power to make even a single decision? In truth, he wasn't that bad, and we had a pretty good time despite the complete mishap of events that allowed us less than two total hours at the zoo. The crazy, high energy spirit that makes my boy wild with desire to crawl across the decorative log, instead of following every other kid in his class, walking with the teacher, is the boy whose heart is so big and crazy and full that he can't help but yell, "I love you!" to his teacher every three seconds on the bus ride. I can't squash that spirit. I just can't.