"Lasts" of the School Year

Our school year wanes. In the last month, we've marked our last co-op of the year, our last field trip of the year, our last dance class of the year, and our last science class of the year. At two of these events, I failed to get any pictures at all, but what I do have, I will share.

First came the end of Meg and Matthew's botany class that ran all semester. We had a lovely farewell meeting at a local farm-park, where the kids put their newly-acquired botanical knowledge to the test in a series of games against (gulp) their mothers. (We moms made a decent showing but got schooled in the end. Rightfully so.)

Here's the whole class, with their lovely teacher Mrs. Perdue with them. (Matthew's the one in the hat.)

Cute story: all the younger siblings were invited to attend this botany shebang along with the moms, so Esme and Graham were with me. At some point Esme pulled me aside and asked, "Mommy, who's dat lady in the puhple shut?" (Translation: purple shirt. We're working on that "R" sound.)

"That's Mrs. Perdue, Meg and Matthew's teacher."

"Her looks bootiful in dat outfit."

"Oh, Sweetie, that's so nice. She does look lovely. You should tell her! I bet that would bless her so much!"

So we went over to talk with Mrs. Perdue. "You look bootiful in dat outfit," Esme said, and all fifteen pounds of Esme got scooped up in a big, long, thank-you hug, which Esme happily returned. Love that sweet affectionate heart. May she always be so free with her compliments! (By the way, she does weigh more than fifteen pounds. Slightly.)

Our last official field trip of the school year was down to good ol' Udvar-Hazy, the auxiliary Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We went there several times when the kids were tiny, but it was so long ago that none of them have any memories of it. They had a great time, and the museum folks did a fine job with our group.

This is the younger half of our group in their workshop, learning about space suits.

Then they got to touch it, and even try on the gloves and boots.

The littles had their tour after lunch, while the big kids did their workshop. Here are the littles with the shuttle Discovery. They learned about all the animals that were sent into space before any humans ever made it there, which was a cute approach and succeeded fairly well in holding their attention.

And this is Esme and her buddy Addie "flying" a Cessna as the finale of their tour. A major highlight.

Perhaps the best part of this field trip for me was that I didn't need directions to get there, and I didn't get lost either coming or going. Thank God for those wonderful signs all along the Dulles toll road. (Some time, if you want a laugh, you can ask me about our field trip to the Rock Creek Nature Center and Planetarium earlier this year. Suffice it to say that I could not. find. the signs. Both ways. It was not a good day in Mommyland.)