The Wheels on the Bus....

I spent my day knee-deep in Kindergarteners--small people who started out loud, silly, and boisterous, and became increasingly hot, tired, bedraggled, and grimy as the Farm Field Trip wore on.

On the nausea-inducing (one-HOUR) bus ride, I was treated to the following snippets of titillating conversation:
Girl1: (very seriously) "I saw a groundhog at my Grandma's. They wanted to kill it."
Boy1: (with great excitement) "I see a Park Police car!"
My Son: "Does Spiderman eat bugs?"
Girl2: "You're weird!" (fortunately NOT aimed at me!)
Boy2: (passing a shopping center) "I'm huunnngry. Can we stop at McDonalds?"
Boy1 again: (singing) "Five dollar foot-longs at Subwaaaay!"
Girl1 again: "Why do they call it a hayride?" (Wait, I know this one! Because you ride...in the hay!)
My son: "Is the Hulk a bad guy?"
Boy 1 again: (quivering with enthusiasm) "I see a firetruck!"

Finally we arrived, and despite the oppressive humidity, 100 or so 5-year olds trudged through muddy fields, toiling diligently to gather strawberries (fortified, in my son's case, by promises of shortcake for dessert later). They emerged with brimming baskets: dotted with sticky red juice, itchy from hay that stuck to their socks, dripping sweat from their brows...but grinning with triumph and pride. So in the end, no one will recall the heat, or the gnats, or the muck, but rather "Remember when you came on my field trip, Mommy, and we picked so many strawberries?" Yep, chalk up another one of those "precious childhood moments"!