Quinn's K-4 Field Trip

Today was Quinn's field trip with the entire K-4 group at his school.  Again, we went to Dan Nicholas Park in Salisbury, about 30 minutes away.  We went there last year with the K-3 group.  The difference was, this year, Quinn and I rode the bus.  He was so excited to ride a real school bus, even if his school's bus is red, white, and blue, and not the typical school-bus-yellow.  Last year, I drove separately because I had 6 week old Jacob with us!

At the entrance to the park. It was a pretty chilly for a May morning in NC, but we shed our coats by 10am.

The first thing Quinn wanted to do was ride the train, so we went and got our tickets for the different activities. This park has no entrance fee, but it does have a train, barn animals, a zoo of sorts for animals native to this part of NC, several playgrounds, and Quinn's favorite part..."treasure rocks"...aka Gem Mining.  While we waited on the train, Quinn did this.

Waiting for the train.



The train conductor was sweet enough to take this picture of the two of us.  And yes,  I'm as cramped as I look....those train cars are super small.

Next, Quinn wanted to ride the carousel. He wanted to ride a camel. In fact, I rode too, although I did not get a picture.

After the carousel, we went down to the barn to see the animals.  They had goats, donkeys, sheep, chickens, a peacock and other birds, and this pig!  Quinn was fascinated that the pig was black and not pink.

We caught up with a few of his classmates as we were leaving the barnyard, so we walked around the zoo area with them.  Here they are, seeing if their "wingspan" compares to a bald eagle.

The kids had a lot of energy to burn, so we went to the playground. Quinn and his friends had a good time playing before we had our picnic lunch.

After lunch, we did Quinn's favorite activity...gem mining.  We got a 20lb bucket of sand with various gems inside.  We went to an area where they have water tables and mined for the gems.

 

Quinn was thrilled that this one was green....his favorite color!

I loved watching his expressions as he found different rocks.  We ended up with a small bag full.

When we got back to school, it was only about 2pm, and I know Jacob usually naps at Susan's longer than 2pm.  So while we waited to go pick him up, we ended the day getting ice cream at McDonald's.  It was a great end to a perfect day!