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A Class Trip to Remember


Time
Activity
3:50am
Alarm goes off. After questioning my sanity, I crawl out of bed and head to the gym.
4:10am
The workout begins. Unfortunately, time runs out before I can do squats and lunges.
5:30am
Arrive back at home. Down a protein drink. Wake Patti.  Shower and pack a bag for the day.
6:05am
Head out the door with time to spare for so I can stop for water and snacks.
6:20am
Start greeting students as they drag themselves in still in a sleep stupor.
6:45am
Phone call from bus company saying they are running late and will not be at the school at their scheduled time of 6:45.
7:15am
Load the buses and head on our way only 15 minutes behind schedule.
8:00am
Listening to music, playing scrabble and texting friends.
8:13am
Listening to the boys argue whether ABC stands for Adult Beverage Center or Alcoholic Beverage Center. (They decided on Adult as it wouldn’t be good to encourage Alcoholics to the Beverage Center.)
8:52am
Asked by the boys if we could go to Hooters for lunch.
9:15am
The bus crashes into a stopped car in front of us turning a small sedan into a Smart Car in a fraction of a second.
9:28am
Collecting injuries, birthdates, phone numbers, and addresses from the students on the bus involved with the accident.
9:52am
Accident report filed, bus driver ticketed, we begin on our way again.
10:13am
Learned that there are still a few 8th grade boys who don’t know what XXX stores are all about.
10:14am
There are no longer any 8th grade boys in the front of the bus who don’t know what XXX stores are. (No, I did not educate them.)
10:30am
Arrive at the aquarium. I stay on the bus to rearrange groups so a student can be taken to have her head checked out.
10:36am
I am the proud chaperone of double the amount of boys that I started with when we began the trip. My group of 4 has grown to 8 – very active 8th grade boys.
10:38am
Look for my group.
10:40am
Run to the gift shop to get some batteries after realizing mine were sitting on the counter back in Benson.
10:46am
Begin looking at the exhibits in the aquarium.
10:55am
Head to the whale tail for our special class.
11:00am
Whale class. Throughout the class, tell my boys to quietly listen even when they speak regular volume, “When can we go miss. This is borin’!”
12:01pm
Head back to the bus looking at the fish on the way out. Stop to take a quick picture of a turtle on a log.
12:05pm
Look quizzically at the bus and notice one side is much lower than the other. Wonder if there is any truth in the ‘air compression’ reasoning I hear as an explanation. Examine the slight damage from the crash before getting back on the bus.
12:30pm
Arrive at Hardees with check in hand to pick up the order placed for our students the day before only to find two busses ahead of us and our food not ready. Wondering where my boys are. (No worries, I found them.)
12:57pm
Hand out meals to students.
1:05pm
Head to the beach asking, “Where are my boys?”
1:07pm
Find boys. Walk at a discrete distance behind them as they walk the beach checking out girls.
1:21pm
Join the group of students gathered at the water looking at a great big jellyfish. Talk myself out of taking it back to school as a motivator after hearing a man tell them if they touched it in the wrong place it would “bite your ass!”
1:44pm
Load the buses and head to the battleship. Run into dreadful traffic due to construction and our second accident (not us) of the day.
2:43pm
Arrive at the battleship.
2:47pm
Take two boys back to the bus to leave their swords and silly string out of temptation’s way while on the warship. (You guessed it. They were planning themselves a game of war on the USS North Carolina.)
2:55pm
Enter the battleship while looking for my boys.
3:20pm
My boys are nowhere to be found. They have begun a game of hide and seek on the battleship.
3:45pm
Find my boys and hang with them on deck before heading to the gift shop.
4:15pm
Start loading the buses for home. I breath a sigh of relief when see all my boys on the bus.
5:28pm
Try to answer riddles presented to me. I get 2 out of 5 correct. Put my headphones back in and turn the music up.
6:23pm
2 miles from school the bus begins sputtering. We find ourselves on the side of the road – again. I am able to quiet a busload of middle school students for the 5 minutes necessary to make a phone call.
6:37pm
Arrive back at school knowing this class trip is definitely one for the record books!


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