A few months ago I signed up to be a chaperone for my daughters sixth grade trip to Epcot in Central Florida. The only condition was that I couldnt ride the charter bus, but would have to drive since I get motion sickness. (of course I ended up getting car sick while I was driving my own car…..go figure)

The class was broken down into three or four children per chaperone and we were free to roam the part until the designated meeting time. One of the moms (Barbara) of one of my students accompanied me on the ride down and we hung out together during the day. We were late getting there and had two phone calls from my daughter telling me that Ms. Davis said to hurry. (We had to make a pit stop along the way for coffee
My group included me and my daughter, Barbara and her daughter, and another child. We had a blast although Epcot was so boring and so “What is the meaning of this park?” and “Why would teachers make there students go to this park as opposed to Disney World or Island of Adventures or Wild Adventures or hell even Sea World?” kind of theme park. It really is just a big shopping expediton set up by country. It only has five rides and only three of those thrilling enough for thrill seeking six graders. Anyway, the girls were happy and fun to be with. I was excited to be able to spend those hours with my daughter. She even held my hand as we walked and she hugged and loved on me throughout the day! **priceless** And I made a new friend in Barbara.

We hit it off immediately on the way down and spent the whole day chatting and laughing and giggling. We both have similar parenting style so by the end of the day, after exploring most of the park, we were ready for a snacky and some coffee, so we let our girls go off to ride the rides a few more times before time to leave. We sat in a lovely little pastry shop which had air conditioning and chatted and drank coffee and giggled some more while our children and the third child came and went every 15 to 20 minutes or so. About the third time, my daughter came and said that Ms. Davis had saw them and asked where thier chaperones were, to which my daughter answered that we were at the coffee shop having coffee. Ms. Davis didnt say anything, but im sure it was noted, and the girls continued on for another hour or so.

We left as the children were walking to the bus, and thought that we would have a half hour to an hour jump on them, so we stopped close to the school and bought dinner for our children, because we had eaten lunch, but not dinner and it was approaching 9 p.m. Of course by this time we are silly tired and very punch happy and the poor boy behind the sandwich counter was to messed up not to mess with, so we made complete laughing fools of ourselves with our silliness. As we were leaving we got another frantic phone call from the children saything that Ms. Davis was saying hurry, because they had already arrived at school. I really should call the charter bus company and complain about the speed those drivers drive with our children on board!

Barbara and I were so giggly and silly by the time we arrived at school, Ms. Davis was giving us the teacher look, and we were dubbed :bad: and :influence: on each other.

Im thinking that next time my chaperone application will just be overlooked!

My alarm is set to radio, so each morning I wake at the top of the hour and the morning news. Then after hitting the snooze button a few times, or just sleeping through the news, I usually get the commentary from the morning crew.

This morning they were speaking about the 5-year-old girl that was handcuffed and removed from school for destroying the classroom, hitting the teachers, and the vice principal. Her mother, of course, is filing a law suit.

Here is the article.

The morning crew and the call in callers, were agreeing with the police, stating that she should have been handcuffed and she should not be allowed back in public schools. My question is, shouldnt we be looking into why a five year old baby has that much anger and rage in her, that she would have to be forcibly removed in handcuffs by three police officers?

I’ve had a five year old, and in a year, I will have another five year old. I cannot imagine that much rage and anger that they would allow themselves to destroy someone elses property?

I’m puzzled this morning.

j

My sister and brother in law were here this past weekend… The time always seems so short doesnt it, when family and loved ones come for a visit. I miss her already.

We crammed as much stuff as we could into the weekend, going shopping, playing with the kids, going out to eat, chatting…. It was fun - but three/four days being out of routine takes its tole one everyone. Yesterday was so busy, plus frustrating with trying to get our computers networked and wireless….

This morning as I woke I did everything I could to talk myself out of my morning walk… what would one day make….? I was rewarded tremendously by the sighting of a right whale of the coast. It was close to the pier and just having a grand time out there frolicking with the dolphins. To me it was just a little God thing, a reward for following through!

My daughter goes tomorrow to have her braces put on…What a fun time we will have the next few years!

I made a few new recipes this weekend, one of them was BBQ Chicken Pizza - it was quite yummy!