Acquara Independent School

Today was the long awaited Tall Ships fieldtrip with Village Home and we barely pulled it off. I had a conference with Avery’s Goddard teachers, but we figured out that there was no way I could do that and be on the max on time, even though it was three hours before our ship sailed. So I was able to cancel that and reschedule. Then Nik’s friend, Jim, was going to babysit Avery, and he was running late…but we can’t complain too much because he was doing us a big favor. Aaron did not want to go all along, and I even did the Easter Willamette River boat cruise to sort of get him over his fear, but he still did not want to go this morning. Part of it is because he really likes Jim and wanted to spend the day with him instead. At first I was going to say he had to come, but since Jim was late, we left Avery with Aaron for a few minutes and left early. We passed Jim on the way, so they were only alone for probably five minutes, but coordinating the whole thing was nerve racking. Then we had to ride C-tran, which we had not done before, so we had to figure that out as well. We had ordered lunch in advanced at a place in downtown Vancouver called city sandwiches, but they did not have our lunch order ready, so we scarfed down food…and made it in OK time. I was trip leader, and was probably one of the last people there, but I got the ship manifest (required by the coast guard) together in about five minutes flat, thanks to all the VH folks who were very prompt and cooperative.

The weather was cool, cloudy and a bit rainy, so it was probably good that Aaron stayed home since he would have complained the whole time. Another kid was complaining and it was quite annoying–though I am not judging because it could have easily been my kid. Naim did really well, of course. I did not worry about him much. He was a little hesitant to jump in at first, but he got better as the afternoon went on. Jim did OK with Aaron and Avery. I guess there was something or other about a conflict about watching transformers, but it went ok otherwise. There was lots of Origami around the house when we came home, because Jim is a bit of an Origami freak. I think he does it to keep his hands occupied, like others smoke or something. Of all habits you can have, I guess it is a pretty harmless one.

Everyone thought it was a lot of fun and Aaron was even a bit sad he didn’t go. And I learned where the term “knots” comes from. It comes from actual knots! In a rope! Who knew?

Filed under: Drama, Fieldtrip, Fieldtrips, Industrial and Technical, Math, Music, Naim, Physical Education, Science, Social Skills, Social Studies, Uncategorized | Tagged: Tall Ship |