AJ's First Field Trip

We have AJ enrolled in a Chicago Park District "Camp" this summer. 2 days/week where we go to the park and do a craft or activity, play with the toys, climb on the equipment and if it's hot, run through the sprinkler or play in the kiddie pool. Then on Wednesdays, we go on a "filed trip". The field trips are to great places like the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Filed Museum, Museum or Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquaruim, etc. AJ loves it. The first field trip was to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Here are AJ and I on the bus (oh, did I mention we all go on a big yellow schoolbus??!! It's loud and crazy and we sit in the back...). AJ usually likes me to sing the Wheels on the Bus song (Today we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and he fell asleep on my lap on the way there!) while we ride, which I think is cute.








Here he is exploring the Extreme Green House exhibit. He's apparently learned all about worms and composting and has moved on to how to recycle huge Campbell's soup cans! This was a neat exhibit and AJ really liked running around and seeing all the things that were at his level. It had actual plates of food with the dates they were set out to show how slowly things decompose, and in the basement there were actual roaches in a drawer! (sealed in, of course!) It was really gross...right up the little boys' alley! Somehow I got nominated to keep our little group on schedule, so it was hard to really enjoy myself, but at least AJ had a good time!



The Nature Museum also has a butterfly sanctuary that's pretty neat. AJ didn't care about the butterflies at all, as much as I tried to point them out, but he loved exploring (read: getting into and climbing onto) everything. He loved walking over the little bridge, climbing the rocks that surround the koi pond and walking around the various paths. I loved the butterflies! I used to collect butterflies as a kid, and seeing that many varieties all up close and personal was pretty cool. I took this picture in a brief moment AJ was still, and it shows that butterflies like to eat fruit, especially if it is cut in an appealing way. (ha, ha)





So after we visited what seemed to be 100 exhibits at warp speed, we broke for lunch in the group lunchroom. There AJ discovered Vending Machines! Some of the older kids were asking to buy candy and chips and stuff from the machines, so AJ moseyed over and liked the looks of all those brightly-colored packages...can you blame him? That's marketing at its finest! The part I thought was funny was when my friend Erin pointed out the Advil nestled between the plain and peanut M&Ms. They must know what being on a field trip feels like to the moms and group leaders! I'm only half-joking this time, since I did leave the Advil where it was, but Erin and I proceeded to ditch the group after lunch and take a walk along the lake while the kids napped or rested in the strollers. A fine way to end AJ's first field trip ever.