Field trip firsts

"I want our bus to be purple," Jackson said as we drove into the parking lot of his preschool Wednesday morning. "With orange and yellow and red." Unfortunately, the color of the bus Jackson's class would take on their first fieldtrip didn't match his expectations -- it was white, and more of a mini-bus. Like one of those buses nursing homes use. It turns out several of the kids were disappointed, telling their parents they were expecting a 'bigger, yellower" bus. 

There was also some confusion about the farm we were visiting. "Lamb Farm" is what the calendar stated, however, you had to read the fine print to find out it was the Lamb Family Farm, not an actual lamb farm. A few confused parents and kiddos that morning. Thank goodness Drew did read the entire text before translating to Jackson, so we were in the clear on this part. 

It all just shows how excited the kids -- and the parents -- were for this milestone. Five other parents and I caravanned behind the "bus," which Jackson's teacher drove. It was so fun to see them climb on and off the bus; they seemed so little and so grown-up all at the same time. My heart melted when Jackson came back to hold my hand as we walked around the farm. But I was also proud he was enjoying his independence, joining his class, raising his hand, talking to his teacher and friends and Amanda the farmer, content to let me hang back and watch him in his element. 

And did we ever love the Lamb family for their Caterpillar combines and tractors. "You'll see a lot of yellow on this farm," Amanda the farmer said. "We love Cat." All of Jackson's little friends got to climb up inside of the cab of the combine, and we got to travel out to the fields to see the combine at work. Very impressive. As he was falling asleep at night, Jackson was recalling how the combine was headed straight for his class's bus. In his mind there was a big "crash." Luckily, there wasn't, this is just how a three-year old boy embellishes a story like this. We also got to see chickens, horses and sheep in the barn, which we also relived after the field trip courtesy of our Little People and Duplo barns.  

So all expectations aside, kids and parents alike had a blast on our outing to the Lamb Farm, and we learned quite a bit too. Like one of the main things produced from their soy crops is an oil used to make chocolate. God bless the Lambs!