From behind the bus.

This past week was field trip central at the boys school. Wednesday I loaded my happy self into the caravan of cars following the big yellow bus down 10 lanes of traffic, thru Atlanta traffic at rush hour for a day of exploring at Zoo Atlanta. Now folks any city at rush hour pretty much blows, Atlanta however is known for traffic. This day was no different and we were left with 5 seconds to run thru the zoo and meet for lunch. Not really but it sure went by fast. And for the record Atlanta traffic isn't that bad it's just that 10-12 lanes of slow moving traffic is a bit more daunting that 4-6. Anyway...It was good times hanging out with 6 and 7 year old monkeys and Zachary seemed to have a grand ole' time. The highlight was holding the map and finding the god forsaken KOMODO DRAGON, because omg we asked to see it like 14356342 times....and do you know what 6 and 7 year old boys do when they do finally see the Komodo Dragon behind the glass laying on concrete not moving? Exactly...shrug and walk off. Cool. But overall the trip was cool, just getting to hang out with my boy and his peeps is fun so yeah. The kids are cute and they say things like "yeah my mom is on a diet" and "well my dad couldn't come because he didn't have enough money...or maybe he just didn't want to". I mean that alone is worth the trip and the $8.50. Yet makes me wonder what Zachary says when I am not around, I just won't think about that. Good times with my Zman even if he talks smack about me behind my back. I still love to kick it with him and his buddies.

Jakeb's class had a trip to Amicalola Falls State Park. Same idea...parents in their cars following the bus...however this was down windy roads in the fall sans traffic. Which is basically right up my ally. So the drive was nice. And despite already having gone to the park, I was looking forward to checking out the 3rd graders and see just what being 8 and 9 is all about in 2010. Pretty much the same just lots more usage of the word "Dude" than I recall. And I learned quite a bit about O'possum's and how surprisingly snugly they are when they aren't smashed into the blacktop. Granted I didn't get to hold one but park lady held and cuddled that little Petunia possum like she was a itty bitty baby and it wasn't that weird really. Did you know that don't really hang upside down and sleep in the tree's? And that if they didn't turn into roadkill or get eaten by like every other animal in the happy forest they could potentially have 40,000 descendants from one possum. No that's not a typo. Wow. So 3rd graders are interesting. It seems that they start maturing emotionally a bit more about this age and some are jumping into this progression already and some...not so much. Mine being one of them. I overheard the discussion of the usage of Mom vs. Mommy. Apparently in 3rd grade "Mommy" is not cool, "Mom" cool. So when Jakeb proceeded to call me "Mommy" 47 times at lunch I wanted to educate him on the cool factor...but his pals didn't notice, so I resisted the urge to rescue him from his sure fate of forever being exiled for referring to me as Mommy. But dang that sucks, because in 3rd grade groups and coolness starts and that is just no fun. However the field trip was fun and Jakeb had a good time and we jetted out of there early and fully educated on possum's and proper parental namage. And again it was good to kick it with my 8 year old and his buds. Who for the record are just as mature as Jakeb---and still rock the air light saber complete with sound effects and fully prepared fighting moves. Little boys for a little while longer, be still my heart. I did ask Jakeb if he thought he should call me Mom now instead of Mommy....and he thought probably he should, so he and Zachary said that a few times until we decided it sounded weird. So I am Mommy for just a little while longer.