Field Trips

Sean likes to pretend he's in school even when he's not.  At times, he has had his imaginary class, complete with unique student names (Area, Stair, Railing, Perzeller, Potzel), and activities for them.  I used to find him surrounded by empty chairs, talking away to his "class" like he was the teacher.  This summer I haven't seen much class activity, but I decided to get Sean and Evie out of the house and proposed a "field trip".  This motivated Sean more than just telling him we were going somewhere.

Our first stop was to a lock on the Seaway.  A ship was passing through, and I knew Sean would enjoy the technical aspects of the lock and the ship.

And Evie of course, was right on board with the whole field trip idea.  She loves to see anything new.  "Boat Mama! Boat!"


Then we moved on to the Lost Villages Museum.  When the Seaway was constructed in the 50's, 6 villages and 3 hamlets were inundated.  It is a weird creepy thing, and very painful still to those who were displaced, their homes, businesses and pasts either burned or moved to higher ground.  At various places along the river, you can still see roads sliding into the river, only to reappear on an island further out. 

The museum was created from some of the structures that were moved, and filled with memorabilia from the various villages.  It is a very interesting place, more for the Mommy who wants to stop and read everything and look at the pictures.  The "class" was less interested in the history, more into other aspects.

And not always happy to pose for photographs.  It is hard to see in this small picture size, but you can see by Miss Evie's stiff body that she really doesn't want to be held up by Sean for another picture!

School the old fashioned way.  The stove and stovepipes were most interesting to Sean, and Evie, well, she just wanted to touch everything she wasn't supposed to, and do everything her brother did, such as trying to open doors that weren't meant to open etc.

Overall the kids enjoyed their field trip, but it did have it's rough moments....like when Sean opened the car door quickly and konked Evie's head.  She cried out, and he was startled and confused enough to react by pushing her to the ground and yelling "Why did you get in the way then?"  I have a hard time teaching him to show empathy in these situations.  It all comes back to his discomfort with emotion, I believe.  Just another thing to work on with him.

But all in all, konked heads aside, we had a good morning.