It's a WILD LIFE....

Especially when you spend the day at Wildlife Prairie Park with tons of children under the age of 5. I take the twins to a 'playgroup' Tuesday through Friday for a little socialization. Since they are not in kindergarten yet, it is important that they are around other kids (because they get sick of one another quite easily). East Peoria High School has a Child Development class and they request to have small children brought in for an hour and a half four days a week so the high schoolers can learn. Most of the HS students want to go into early childhood education when they start the program....Needless to say, not all of them stick with that career choice by the end.

Anyhow, the girls LOVE the program and their 'teachers'...as do I. Because it gives me at least an hour to run an errand without two little ones begging to do what they want to do. Another thing I love about the play group is that there are 2 fieldtrips. The first fieldtrip was to the Bloomington Children's Museum (Wonderful place!!!) and I got to go along. The second fieldtrip was to Wildlife Prairie Park. Since it is impossible to enjoy these places for just an hour, the fieldtrips last from 8 AM til 3 PM. And the best part is...i get to watch the girls without having to really watch them because they each have their own 'teacher.'

This is the whole group of munchkins with their HS teachers. We were missing a few kids this day. And it was chilly and sprinkled on us....but no one seemed to mind :o)

They started the morning with a Pre-School educational program which was awesome. The kids liked it, but I think I enjoyed it more :o) They talked about senses and about different animals and how they use their senses. So there was an owl (MY FAVORITE....I almost went over and hugged it I was so excited, but thought better of the situation), skunk, toad, and snake.

My Pretty little Owl Friend....its name is Oliver :o) And he hooted numerous times and the kids when wild. It was too cute.

Mr. Skunk...don't remember her real name because i was too busy watching the owl. But she was a cute also. The kids all plugged their noses when they brought her out, and one little girl hid under her chair. Rather amusing since the skunk didn't stink, and just laid there the whole time. Oh Kids...

Since it was such a nasty day, most of the animal outside were hard to find. But around lunch time they can out to feed....I think all the children we looking mighty yummy to the wolves. They were pacing along the fence. The kids didn't stay far from their teachers while we were here.

After all the walking and animal watching, it was time to ride the train and then head home. But before we headed home, we needed a little more excitement. SO we headed to the HUGE slide which the kids loved. Well, most of the kids. Delaney loved it, but Caitlin....she didn't get to enjoy it much.

The story goes like this. The first time we took a bathroom break, Caitlin had a little...freak out session (that's putting it nicely). If any of you have been to the Wildlife, you know the bathrooms in the museum area are not 1st class...or 2 class for that matter. They are basically glorified port-a-potties. Huge holes in the ground made to look like toilets. Well, Caitlin has sensory issues anyhow and these toilets were not too appealing. But when you have to pee you have to pee...so she went into the stall. About 30 seconds later we hear screaming...and this is not just a little squeal or two, I'm talking there is a bear chasing me kinda scream. Of course she was so frantic she could not unlock the door and we could not get in. Finally she came out in tears and informs us that there was a bug crawling up the toilet to get her. Well we survived that one but the second bathroom break was not as fun. Since the first event had her so worked up, she would not even go into a stall the second time. Finally I was able to get her into the stall as long as i was in there too (just in case). Well this still didn't help because she would sit on the toilet and cry and then jump off. But eventually i got her to go. Have I said lately how much i love children...I really do.

When we are at home, Caitlin probably goes to the bathroom about every hour. So i didn't let her drink too much because i knew there were going to be issues on this trip. But that didn't help much. Just as we were about to leave, Caitlin's teacher comes and gets me while everyone else is sliding...as i turn around to go with her Caitlin comes walking over to me. SOAKED...not even kidding. The child wet her pants. She was sooo scared of the toilet she would not even say that she had to go to the bathroom in fear of having to go back. So she peed her pants. I must say she handled it better than i would have. Didn't cry or anything just stayed by my side the whole way home....as i made her sit on a cardboard box (i know i know but i didn't want to clean the seats when she got up) So a 40 minute bus ride home and a 10 minute car ride and we were showered and clean once again. I wish i would have gotten a pic of her standing because it was priceless....but i could only snap one of her sitting on the bus with me. She allowed just one picture as long as her face was not in it. So here we go...

And as you can imagine, it was all down her legs in her shoes....everywhere. I just cannot WAIT to have kids of my own. Never a dull moment. But lesson learned....even at the age of 5 you should pack extra clothes when going on a fieldtrip.