Field trip!

WCK went on her very first school field trip on Wednesday. The class went to a farm, and all of the parents were invited to come along too. When we got the permission slip a couple of weeks ago, it said that the kids could either ride the bus or ride with their own parents, but the parents were not allowed on the bus and had to drive on their own. WCK was actually very gung-ho about riding the bus and could not stop talking about the bus until about five minutes before she had to board said bus, and then she informed her teacher and me that she was not getting on that bus.

The teacher and I decided not to push it, although I did drive through the parking lot where a crowd of mothers had gathered, and I spotted the moms of two of WCK's good preschool buddies. They told me that both of their children were riding the bus. I reported back to WCK that Friend A and Friend B were both on the bus. Didn't she want to ride the bus?

No, she said. She was not getting on that bus. At least she doesn't cave in to peer pressure. I hope she remembers the Bus Incident when all of her friends are smoking marijuana.

Anyway. I ended up driving her to the farm, which was fine, since I was going there anyway. I did feel a little sad that she missed her first bus experience, but, secretly, the bus did scare me a little bit. WCK is still under 40 pounds, which means that she still rides around strapped down securely in a five-point harness, like she's blasting off for a mission to Mars. School buses don't even have seat belts. I kept thinking of that episode of The Simpsons where the bus is about to crash, and Otto the bus driver yells, "Fasten your seat belts!"

"We don't have any seat belts!" cries Lisa Simpson.

"Oh," says Otto. "Then just try to go limp."

I know The Simpsons is not exactly a documentary, but, you know, it could happen.

Fortunately, everyone made it to the farm in one piece. We saw lots of animals, played in the hay, walked through some prairie grass, went on a hayride, and picked out some apples to take home. We saw two adorable baby piglets, snuggled together in the hay. As everyone oohed and ahhed over them, the tour guide pointed out to all of the four-year-olds that the pigs would eventually become bacon, pepperoni, and hot dogs.

WCK actually thought this was cool. "I always thought hot dogs came from dogs!" she said.

It was a very educational trip.