Earlier this week, Faith, along with the rest of the first graders at Centennial went on a field trip for what is normally called "Summer Fun and Safety Day" but to me and probably many others it was a "Not So Summery Crazy Day." The whole event was supposed to take place outdoors at Sertoma Park, where the students could visit about 25 different booths and learn about having fun while staying safe.
Due to the rainy weather, however, all of the kids (about 1,500 first and third graders from different schools), teachers, chaperons, booths, games, prizes, informational handouts and even a live DJ all got crammed into one church building -with mostly everything in their gymnasium. It was a little crazy, especially since I was trying to be super safe and maneuver Faith's wheelchair through the crowd without running over any feet. Thank goodness Faith's afternoon aide was there to help!
Though a little crazy, there were still some good moments - like me getting to be the chaperon of Faith and two of her "girlfriends" as her teacher called them - both very sweet girls. They wanted to be the ones to push Faith but after finding it all but impossible for them to get Faith through the crowd of people, they happily handed the "reins" over to me.
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| The first stop for the girls was face painting. |
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| Faith with her girlfriends, Chloe and Anja |
It was sort of comical 'cause every time I saw another chaperon that I knew we just looked at each and rolled our eyes like, "can you believe this?" I noticed the live DJ was playing songs that the adults knew more than the kids - you know classics like
Summer of '69 , Thunderstruck, the Macarena, Cotton-Eyed Joe and many more. I think this was intentional on his part so that he could sort of distract us from the craziness ensuing around us!
Thank goodness it had stopped raining outside so we could go out and get a breath of fresh air. An ambulance was there and the kids got to climb in and learn what some of the EMT's equipment was for. Some firemen were also there. They had a house with three fake fires burning in each of the windows. The kids got to hold on to the fire hose, aim at the fires and put them out.
The line for this activity was incredibly long, but one of the girls I was with was bound and determined to do it. As soon as she was done, it was time for her to join her class and get back on the bus. While we had been waiting in line, Faith was in a safe spot with her aide giving her a feeding.
Before leaving the event, I asked Faith is she wanted to try the fire hose. She excitedly said, "Yes!" By this time most of the students had to get on their buses so the line was really short. I helped her reach for the hose and the fireman helped us get out the fires. After she was done, Faith yelled, "I did it! I want to do that again!" (Kimberly and her husband Matt are going to be especially proud of her as he is a fireman)!
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| Put all the fires out! |
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| The fireman was great with Faith! |
Looking back on the field trip, I am really proud of Faith. I know at one time in her life that would all have been way too much for her and she might have only been able to stay for a little while. As it turns out, she was there for the whole three hours along with about 1,499 other kids!
I've also been noticing that she is not startling as much as she used to. At one time, that initial spray of water coming out of the fire hose would have caused her to nearly jump out of her skin but she was more excited than anything.
She has definitely grown and matured since she started first grade and I know she will continue to do so and will also continue to experience so much more!
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| Faith enjoying her experience just as much as the other kids! |
I was there with my daughter and three other kids from her third-grade class. We waited in line for a very long time so they could spray the fire hose, but every one of them had huge smiles on their faces after they "put out" the fire. It was a wonderful morning, even if it was pretty congested.
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