bay sail 2007......

i never had a field trip as good as these kids have them these days. 3 days ago, i went on a field trip with austen's class to bay city to sail in this schooner. i don't think we could have had a more perfect day weather wise. about 83 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.

the kids had so much fun and so did i. we sailed up and back the saginaw river which was not very attractive on the shores. lots and lots of factories and mills that were spewing smoke, steam and god knows what else. but once we got into the bay, it was beautiful. the kids got to raise the sail with the crew once we were in the bay. it was really hard work, but they got to say "heave-ho", in it's correct context, just like pirates. the ride lasted for 2 1/2 hours and for the afternoon we went to a beautiful park in bay city with large shade trees and a playscape for the kids to hang out on.
two drawbridges opened for us and stopped traffic on the bridge. it was a pretty cool trip and i even volunteered my services for next year's 4th grade trip there.
we all got to go to mcdonald's for lunch after the boat trip. you should have seen the faces of the people behind the counter when we strolled in with 27 4th graders and 8 chaperones. eyes as wide as saucers.....like a deer in the headlights. each kid got to order whatever they wanted. imagine 13 orders of chicken selects, 10 orders of chicken mcnugges, chicken wraps, kids meals, salads, 27 orders of fries and on and on. austen's teacher approached the counter to order everything and the kid behind the register looked to be about 16 years old. she asked if there was someone more experienced there but the staff assured her that this kid could handle it.....and he did. the food was done fast and we were out of there in about 45 minutes...great trip and great fun.