I chaperoned a field trip this morning.  A simple field trip that lasted less than 2 hours.  A simple field trip to a simple bowling alley.   What could go wrong???

Well… many things.

First up… CHAPERONE DOWN!!!!

One of the dads, for reasons I don’t know, pulled up on the bumpers that go along side the gutters of the alley and cut his finger.  Cut his finger to the point that half the kids were screaming “gross” and half were screaming “cool”.  Off to the ER with him and last we knew, he was being evaluated for possible hand surgery.

Meanwhile… a kid took a bowling ball to the face.

I hear Where’s Anna Grace’s mom? and when I turn around, there is Johnny crying his eyes out.  He got hit in the eye/face with a bowling ball in motion.  We had been telling the kids to stand back and so Johnny was becoming our poster child for why standing back was a good idea.  Until we discovered that it was Johnny’s turn to bowl and Johnny spun around and somehow…Johnny hit himself in the head with the bowling ball.

And then… Where’s Anna Grace’s mom?

Kids with hands and fingers in the ball return.  Kids told repeatedly to move their hands but we’re adults, they’re kids, what do we know??!!!  Then SMACK.  Two kids with fingers smashed using one ball.  (A TWOFER!!)

Kid #1 is the winner of the days’ second ice pack for his smashed fingers.  Kid #2 has a split on the side of her nail and I am working on getting her patched up.  Her grandmother thinks she needs stitches, I don’t think so but was about to encourage grandma to do what she’s comfortable with when I hear….

Where’s Anna Grace’s mom?

Boy + bowling ball + walking around in sock feet = ouch

One of the boys thought it would be fun to take his shoes off and bowl in his socks.  He enacted his plan,  walked forward to take his turn, lost his balance, spun around and fell backwards hitting his head on…that blasted bumper.  A little bit of bleeding, nothing serious, a bruised tailbone and wounded pride, he was going to be just fine and was the lucky winner of our third ice pack of the day.

Where’s Anna Grace’s mom?

A group of boys thought it was fun to take their bowling ball all the way to the back wall and then run full speed ahead before dropping the ball on the alley.  They were told time and time again to stop.  They were apparently deaf and we, the adults, apparently had ESP.  Because what we envisioned could happen, actually happened.  One of them tripped, fell to the floor, teeth hit bowling ball and he had to make an emergency trip to the dentist.

And with that, our uber fun, overly joyous field trip came to an end.  But not the excitement.

After taking the kids back to school and collecting Anna Grace… Anna Grace’s mom was completely brain dead and not able to focus.  And so, as Anna Grace’s mom cruised down Old Mount Dora Rd., she met Mr. Highway Patrolman.  (I love meeting all of our fine, law enforcement officers…. okay… not really!).  Doing 41 in a 25… and thankfully he gave me a warning.  Then he asked for a business card for Daybreak.   So thankful for that warning!!!

So….where’s Anna Grace’s mom?

She’s going to be taking a little nap and trying to recover from her very first chaperoning experience!!!