The Boys and Ruby

I was so excited to go on Tommy’s 4th grade tip to Sac…apparently I went on the same trip when I was in 4th grade but I don’t seem to remember anything bout it.  I wish I would have payed more attention in school, because I learned so much on this trip.  I was WAY more interested than I was in 4th grade.  I wanted to stop and pause on everything that we were learning, as Tommy was trying to rush me through it all, always trying to get on to the “next thing”.  I find it very hard to be in the moment, usually.  There are so many distractions, so much of life that gets in the way, but on this trip, I was able to stop for a while and be present.  Be present for Tommy and also for me.  We woke up at the crack of dawn with The Hubby and Tommy rushing me out of the house by 4:30am, all the while I was saying I had plenty of time because the plane didn’t even leave until 7, and we only had to drive to Long Beach.  As I was driving, my eyes were still trying to wake up and focus and by the time we got to the airport, it was 5:32.  Tommy was sure that we had missed the plane and that his class had left without us.  He found out very quickly that we had over 1.5 hours to wait.  There was so much buzz in the terminal, all the kids were exploding with energy.  That I do remember form my childhood.  Whenever I went anywhere on a trip, or even an early car ride somewhere, I was the morning person…singing and ready to go.

We boarded the plane, and Tommy was a little scared.  It was very foggy and the plane was delayed 3 times, so we didn’t even take off until 7:30.  This cut into our tour time drastically.  Once we finally arrived at the airport I felt so rushed.  Not only by Tommy but by the tour guide and the other people responsible for the tour.  I get that we have to stay on a schedule to see everything that was planned for us, and I guess that’s why I’ve never really liked tours.  If I am interested in a particular area over another, I’d like to spend more time there.  I am constantly breaking away from the group and exploring the areas that we aren’t supposed to be going.

I did enjoy the knowledge that the tour guide (heather) imparted on us, things that i’ve always known, but to have the actual facts to support what I knew was cool.

We got to ride on a bus, play on trains, shop in old town and pan for gold.  We even got to go into the main asembly room @ the capitol while it was in session and hear our congress vote on bills and listen to them tell their stories.  Very cool.  I am sure that back in 4th grade, I heard and saw those same things but I don’t seem to remember them.

I got to relax, to photograph the kids and their experiences so that hopefully they will remember better than I have.