Pumpkin Patch 2010

Today Tucker's class went on their first fieldtrip. Chris and I joined the class at the Pumpkin Patch. Last spring Tucker's 3-year-old class went to the Strawberry Patch, and that place becomes a Pumpkin Patch in the fall, so I thought we were going there. It turned out that we went to a different one, and even the busdriver had no idea where it was! I am usually the overly controlling parent, who plans out all the details, and Chris just goes with the flow. Today we followed the bus driver and other parents in through neighborhoods near Chris's plant, which we KNEW was nowhere near the pumpkin patch, and Chris was freaking out:) I told him to relax, that we would get there, and we had to trust the people in charge, he was not very good at that! We knew Tucker was having a blast, as it was a much longer bus ride than they planned, it took us about an hour and ten minutes to actually get there. Mrs. Amy said that Tucker loved the busride, and they fed him on schedule while the bus was rolling. I am proud of Mrs. Amy, they are getting very used to his tube feedings. Since we got to the Pumpkin Patch late, we were scared that we missed our scheduled ride. Since we were such a small group, they fit us right in. Big tractors were hooked up to large wagons; we all stood up in the wagons, in a pretty tight fit, and rode out to the pumpkin patch. I love this picture! I couldn't get down on his level, because there was no room, so I snapped the picture from my (not too high) vantage point. Once the tractor started rolling, Chris picked Tucker up so he could see over the big kids' heads.

Then the big kids' from another school were so sweet and moved out of the way for Tucker to see.

We were near the front of the wagon, right behind the tractor. Two of Tucker's classmates loved being right behind the tractor, and when Tucker noticed them, he joined them. This is a picture of Brian pointing at the tracks and explaining to Tucker that the tractor made the tracks, how cute:)

The kids mainly stayed with their parents, but it was so sweet to see Tucker interacting with the other kids. In the classroom before we left, Tucker just kind of sat around and stared into space while the teacher and kids talked. But out on the field trip he really interacted much better.

Once we got out of the wagon, the kids took all of 3 minutes to pick out their pumpkins!! Tucker was ready to actually ride the tractor, but that was not allowed. He got in the wagon and stared at the tractor, saying "get in the tractor," but the answer was a firm NO. He did not have a fit or anything, he was very well-behaved.

Then I just took some pictures of Tucker walking in the field.

And some pictures of him back on the wagon, waiting patiently for the tractor to GO!

The ride back was so hot! By the end of the ride we were all ready for some water. Tucker drank pretty well out of the cup, then we found a spot for a picnic. True to Tucker form, guess who was the first one ready for lunch?? ;)

He is hilarious! He has always been the first one ready for snack and lunchtime, even though he only licks the food. We had to keep telling him to "stay out" of the lunchbags until we had the blanket set up. He even went around digging in the parent's lunchbags! I had to stop him until Chris got back with our lunch, including 3 bags of chips-one for each of us.

Tucker's current favorite chip is Fritos, so that's what we bought for him. I brought Cheetos for me, and that is what Tucker wanted instead of his chips. He sat and licked every single chip while the other kids ate their PB&J sandwiches, apples, and juices. Mrs. Amy works hard with Tucker everyday to lick his lunch as long as the other kids eat. We have seen a difference in him at home as far an attention span at meals. Well today was wonderful, he sat there and licked the chips all during lunchtime, then put his discarded cheetos into the trash, which is much nicer than his usual method, which is to lick chips and then feed them to us!

After lunch, Chris cleaned Tucker's face and hands in the water fountain, then we brought him to our car to change his clothes. We had him in pants, but it was too hot! Luckily, we had packed his shorts. Once we got back, the kids were in line for the potty. Tucker kept saying "ride the bus" so I told him he had to ask Mrs. Amy. He found Mrs. Amy, and I told her Tucker had a question for her. She asked him what he needed and he said "ride the bus!" She told him it wasn't time, so he held her hand and waitied until it was time. He was so patient! :)

Once the kids were loaded on the bus, the parents discussed how to get home. Chris suggested a much better route, and the parents agreed to follow us out. We got back much sooner, thank goodness. I think the teacher and aides were tired of the pumpkin patch and ready to get the kids back for naptime. This is only the first fieldtrip, and the teacher has planned one per month. All of the parents can't attend each one, though, and next month only two parents are going to Global Wildlife. Global Wildlife is about an hour away, and it's a place where you ride in covered wagons to see Safari animals. Since there is limited space on the wagons, only 2 parents can come, including me. Chris has had his fill of field trips for now, so he is not jealous of me at all! I told him "this is only the beginning of our field trip years," haha, we are lucky to be looking forward to hopefully many more trips to the pumpkin patch and other oddly educational places.

Today was enough excitement for us for a while! Hopefully we will just relax this weekend, then leave for Houston bright and early Monday morning. I will update more on that this weekend.