By the time the second graders from Anna's class and another class whose teacher's name I don't know were done squirming on wooden benches listening to a naturalist give very brief history of the Little Red Schoolhouse the sun was out. My group of Anna, girl S and boy J and Lucy's Mom's group of three quickly blazed through the Nature Center and were ready for hike.
Unfortunately, the gate to Black Oak Trail (aka the long trail) was locked. Apparently, road construction occurs in nature as well as on all our highways. So we hiked (aka the kids ran ahead and used their outside voices) on the White Oak Trail (aka the trail not long enough to tucker out those kids). Sixty kids on two trails on a goregeous almost fall day. From time to time, I was able to hold their attention with my limited and slighly embellished knowledge of Nature. Other times I could have used an Advil--or two. Overall, I thought it was a great day for a hike, the kids enjoyed the Little Red Schoolhouse and I made plans to return for long walk...by myself.
Before getting on the bus to go over to the picnic grove for lunch, we went into the Vistor Center for a pitstop. A group was crowded around the help desk and one of the teachers was on the phone. A couple of boys had their shirts off, a couple of girls had ice packs. My first thought was that someone must have fell on the trail and tripped the kids behind them causing a kid/wildlife trail pile up on the White Oak Trail.
Nope. A couple of the groups were at a small pond across from the beehives (the white boxy manmade kinds) and the scoop is a little swarm of bees came along and blamo! Parents and kids running willy-nilly swatting screaming and getting stung. Luckily no one was allergic, and all the stingees were troopers. They dried their tears and everyone got on the buses and we headed over to the picnic for lunch.
The kids were starving, the sun was shining, and the picnic area was shaded. The kids were skipping with joy. Everyone sat down to tuck into lunch. I brought a lunch for Anna and I to share. We had yogurts and no spoons, carrots, crackers with cheese, and pretzels & cut up apples with caramel sauce. The kids I was chapareoning had their lunches, J had some pringles and S had a cheese pizza lunchable. S was just putting together her little pizza and J had eaten 1 pringle when the Bees Attacked!
Fresh on the heels of kids (and parents) getting bee stung--Bees descended everywhere. You couldn't sit and eat. The poor kids who'd already been stung were crying, Anna was being over-the-top dramatic. S tried leaving part of he food at the end of the table as an offering for the bees. J packed his lunch up and ran around with other boys. We loaded up the buses after a short lunch filled with bee-dodging and headed back to the school. As
Oragami Yoda would say: Comical it was.
Those kids won't forget that field trip. Neither will the teachers. Heck the bees might not forgot today for a while.
