Today was Kaelyn's first field trip day as an elementary schooler. I got to chaperone. Here's the breakdown of Iron's Fruit Farm in Lebanon, OH:

• It was full of mud but no rain: yay! Rained on the drive there and back but not while we were out in the fields. Praise the Lord!

• The apple cider donut made it worth being a chaperone. :) Seriously, have you had an apple cider donut? If not, you're missing out on one of fall's greatest creations.

• Hayride! (I reminisced about my grandparents' former farm. Ah, fall!)

• Kaelyn and I picked white pumpkins in order to make them into a cute owls my mom suggested. I'll post pics if they turn out as planned.

• One little boy in my assigned group came to school feeling ill. Oh great. He, of course, snuggled on me for comfort after he puked in the pumpkin patch. Seriously, this is great. I tried to keep my hyper-germaphobia under control and used TONS of hand wash all day! (Sickness and being covered in mud? It was starting to push my borderline OCD.)

• I finally got to put all 22 faces to the names Kaelyn talks about each week. Cute kids!

• Met some great moms and got to know the teacher & assistant teacher better.

• Had fun watching the teacher snap photos of the kids who fell asleep on the loooong drive home. Cute.

• Got to see a glimpse of Kaelyn in her school element. I like the way the teacher has taught them respect as well as information.

• Got to interact with Brownie, the class turtle, before we left. I've never seen such an active turtle. They even let him out during the day to let him take walks around the room to exercise his legs. Hilarious. I've never been smitten with a turtle before.

All right. Enough typing. I think I need to bathe one more time just to make sure all those germs are gone.