First Field Trip of the Year and No Emergencies

I've always thought it was interesting how states appropriately spend so much time making sure we keep our seatbelts on and our kids buckled, but allow 60 students and 5 adults to cram three people to a seat on a little yellow bus with no seatbelts and limited supervision. But that is not the subject of this post.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. I took a day off work and traveled with my oldest son and two 5th Grade classes to the Little Grand Canyon on a geology field trip. Don't worry. I didn't make him sit with me on the way up. I really don't think he would have minded, but I remember when I was that age what it was like to have a parent chaperone school activities.

I rode on the bus on the way up because one of the kids has juvenile onset diabetes and another severe ADD. The child with diabetes had to have a specific low calorie meal and diet drinks and had to check his blood sugar periodically. The child with ADD needed medication. Nothing a concerned mom could not handle but the school wanted someone with medical training. I also brought along inhalers and epi pens just in case. We didn't need them.

The Canyon was beautiful. There were a ton of dogwoods, chestnut oaks, hickory, wax myrtle and magnolia trees. Their leaves were turning red with the change of seasons and the acorns on the chestnut oaks were huge. The soil was a combination of red Georgia clay, sand and lava rock. I still don't know where the lava rock came from as Georgia is not really known for its volcanic activity.

One of the kids found a perfectly intact arrowhead made out of Kaolin (I think that is how it is spelled) which is the main ingredient in Kaopectate and cat litter. I wonder if the Native Americans of yesteryear knew about its medicinal properties. They probably did. In any case, the State Park would not let the kid take the arrowhead out of the park. Instead, they took a picture of the kid holding the arrowhead and they are going to mount the arrowhead on a plaque with his picture and put it on the wall at the visitors center. The arrowhead was apparently a rare find given the park ranger's reaction to it.

Well, it is back to work today. My shift starts at 2:00 p.m.