State Capitol

 On Friday, I was able to attend the fourth grade field trip with Brody to the State Capitol.  I was so excited to go being that there were only 3 parents who were chosen.  Lucky me!  Brody and I had a great time together talking on the bus.  I learned that he too has a little fear of riding on the freeway without a seat belt in a huge metal yellow rectangle. 

 One of the downfalls of being one of three parents attending a field trip is that you are responsible for a large group of kids.  Here are the 9 kids in our group.  There were a couple that were a handful but for the most part....we survived.

 We stayed close to this cute group of boys since cousin Drew was part of this group.

 When we arrived at the capitol, we walked around Wesley Bolin Plaza looking at all the monuments.  I had never been here before and can I just say, it was AMAZING!  The monuments are unbelievable and I learned so much.  We were given an assignment to write down as many monuments as we could along with 2 facts about each.  The only problem was, we were only given 30 minutes.  Being that there are 29 monuments, we ditched the assignment and just looked at all the monuments we could in the short amount of time. Brody of course loved this WWII monument since his great grandpa has a purple heart just like the one shown.  

 I can't remember what this monument was all about but I have to tell you the craziest story.  As I was taking a picture of the kids next to this, the boy on the far left, walked away from the monument..  I literally turned my back for half a second when I hear a loud crash.  I looked back to see an IPad on the ground cracked to all heck.  I panicked.  I looked at this boy, who had been having trouble all morning and asked, "What happened?" He was speechless.  Apparently a woman who was touring the monuments asked this boy if he could take a picture of her and her mother with her BRAND NEW IPAD.  She explained to him that she just got it and wasn't even sure how to take a picture with it.  As he picked the IPAD up off the bench, it flew open and onto the ground.  Of course it shattered.  I did not know what to say.  This wasn't my kid.  The IPAD was shattered.  I panicked.  If this were one of my own kiddos,I may have offered to pay for the damages.  However, I was at a loss.  She was calm about the whole situation but I  felt terrible.  What a mess!

After touring Wesley Bolin Plaza, we ate lunch on the grass (with the orange jumpsuit inmates who were on gardening duty) and then headed over to the Capitol for a guided tour.  Our tour guide was AWESOME and I learned a TON!  This field trip was very informational.  I had a great time learning about our state but mostly, I loved spending the day with Brody.  He is a great kid and I am one lucky mama!