Field Trip with Wyatt's Class

Wyatt at the lower pool.

I was asked to go on the 3rd grade field trip to Zions last week. I haven't been there since before we moved away, so I was excited that I got to go (and for the fact I wouldn't have to worry about Wyatt all day while he was gone.)

We started out on our little adventure and got as far to the 2nd exit in town when the other bus had problems so we had to wait for a new bus to come. Once we got to Zions- which I enjoyed the ride by having my i-pod :) We went to a movie about the park, and ate lunch, complete with deer crossing through where we were eating. Then we started to hike the Emerald Pools trail- I thought no problem this will be fun. I was surprised at how fast we reached the lower pool and I thought to myself- now what are we going to go on- I was wrong. Wyatt's teacher, I'm convinced is part mountain goat. That woman led 90 3rd graders to the top pool. Only 5 kids went back at the mid-point. It was such a pretty hike- Wyatt's teacher had them walk in alphabetical order so she could keep better track of them all so Wyatt was 1st in line and he and Mrs. L practically ran to the top. I was in the middle (thanks Wyatt for ditching me ;)- honestly I knew Wyatt would need to be one of the 1st ones there so I wasn't surprised- I had fun with the kids in his class- they all told me really funny/odd stuff. We had to stop because one of the girls in Wyatt's class (a real whiner- oh my gosh!) had fallen way behind so Mrs. L went back to get her. On her way back up the trail Mrs. L was pulling kids over to the side, asking them to stand back when she grabbed a woman who was just out hiking, thinking she was one of the kids. Mrs. L was pretty embarrassed. I thought it was really funny. I did feel sorry for all the tourists who probably paid 1,000s of dollars to come and enjoy the peace and serenity of Zions that day- people were just stunned at how many kids there were.

Once we got to the top pool- and I caught my breath, I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. Wyatt had fun running around with his friends and Kasen did a beautiful impression of a water feature. Wyatt took some really good pictures of the scenery. It was such a perfect day for hiking. I can't wait until I can take our family there. We are so lucky to have such awesome places so close to us.

Taking 90 8 year olds on a pretty long hike is bound to have it's challenges so as if they bus breaking down wasn't bad enough- the hike took us about 2 1/2 hours to do. So when we climbed back on the buses it was already 3:15 and school let out at 3:30 so needless to say we got back around 4:30. It was so fun to be with Wyatt and see him in action around his friends. He is a good kid and I'm glad he is falling in love with nature- I hope we can do more stuff like

this. This picture is to prove that I did make it to the top! I'm glad I had such fun kids to hike with.