Snow falls in September: Field Trip in the rain

Well it is that time of year again, Field Trip Season. When we started the year I asked my AO about field trips and was told that there was no money so I put the idea away. I had no idea that April, May and June would turn into "selling-everything-you-can" months or better known as fund-raising time. We as schools are supposed to be supporting the Healthy Schools initiative, but we serve pizza and hot dogs every week, and the PAC sells ice cream floats every once in a while. When fund-raising time came, classes were selling freezies, ice cream and bake sale items. EVERYDAY. What do you get when you give 7 year olds a large tube of frozen sugar? A wild ride of a sugar high, followed closely by crankiness and melt downs. So fun.
Anyway, with all the stuff being sold and me short on ideas, I decided to plan an almost free trip to town. So where to go in our small community? After being shot down by some grocery stores, (did I mention that I started calling around on June 5, wanting a date for the 15th?) I made a flurry of phone calls to community services. The first call was the RCMP. (I never actually talked to the Constable that planned the tour and was unsure if we would be expected when we arrived!) Next to the Credit Union, where I have a friend in high places (thanks to Sharol) and then to the Library. I was adding to the difficulty by mixing 2 classes, equalling 41 kids plus adults. So after some scurrying around and tight scheduling I got it planned. On the Friday before I looked at the weather. Rain. All the other days leading up to the 15th changed slightly, or the rain didn't appear, so I had hope. On the drive out to work the morning of the 15th, it started to rain. It never stopped.

We made it to town with time to spare and our bus driver offered to pick us up if it started to rain a lot. I still had hope. My kids were first at the RCMP, and to my relief they looked like they were expecting us. It was an interesting tour, but we didn't have enough time to see all they had to show us, as the guy I played phone tag with said 25 mins would be long enough. He lied. We were there for 45, and it still wasn't enough time. We hurried over to the bank and had an interesting walk through of the behind-the-scenes for around 30 minutes. When we came out on to the pavement, it was sprinkling. It didn't look like it was going to get worse, so we set off to our place. Half way there, the skies opened and we got absolutely soaked! By the time I got the kids in the house, they were soaked through and so were the adults. I threw 3 loads of socks and jackets into the dryer, hoping that they would have something a little dryer to put on when we left for the library. I was so concerned, but realized that the kids didn't care. They were so excited to be at my house, that's all they could think about. Chris' class showed up about 15 mins later (on the bus) and headed downstairs. We had 40 students and 8 adults crammed in our little house.

After lunch, we got on the bus and headed to the Library for our tour. At 1:55 we got back on the bus and headed back to school to arrive just in time to send them home.
Overall, things went well. Yes it poured all day long and we couldn't picnic outside or play games at the park. I also didn't feed them ice cream (can you imagine the mess?), and we ran a little late, but the kids had a good time and I didn't hear any complaining. That made it worth it.
We saw the kids onto the bus home and then beat a quick retreat home to clean up the house. 45 minutes later, 2 bathrooms scrubbed, vacuming done top to bottom and floors swiffered, we collapsed on the couch.