This was a crazy week, but I had been looking forward to this day for months. Ruby told me about her field trip to McWane, and I was all in. And all was good until I found out that I had to be in Augusta Georgia for a cyber inspection that week. When I told Ruby I had to be out of town the next week, she was sad, then her eyes got big..."Wait, Dad, that is my field trip! You're going to miss my trip?" So no, I was not going to miss her trip, or the meeting with Mississippi State with Sam on Monday.
So began a long week to make sure I made it to this event. I stayed in Birmingham on Monday to meet with a MSU representative with Sam at 5:00PM, then left for Augusta directly after dropping Sam off at his car. Arriving around midnight EST, I was somewhat rested to be at the inspection on Tues morning, then made sure all the meetings I needed to be in would be completed on Wednesday. On Wednesday, I left the final meeting at 3:30PM, then after some final discussions, was able to leave Plant Vogtle around 5PM and get back home close to midnight again. But that left me ready to go on Thursday to be with Ruby.
I always get onto Magan for not leaving early enough, and almost ran into this myself. I had to first stop in Chelsea to pick up Subway sandwiches for me and Ruby (this is her favorite for field trips) , then ran into a larger traffic jam on 280 due to a wreck. After finally getting going on 280, I found that at the McWane Center, every other parent in Shelby County was also there and needed parking. Fortunately, I was able to find a spot on the D level, and quickly run to the foyer, hoping I had not missed the kids arriving.
The foyer was pure craziness with parents from multiple schools crowded in waiting for kids to arrive on the bus, but I looked out side just in time to see Ruby coming in. She saw me and gave me a big smile and wave. But I knew I had to act quickly, so once she got in the building, I grabbed our stickers, and Ruby's friend Presley (who I was chaperoning) and we moved past the swarms of people waiting for kids, then not knowing where to go. We go to the first floor exhibits with basically no other kids around, so we could play whatever we wanted (This was NOT the case in about 30 minutes).
Ruby and Presley sit right beside each other in class, and seem to be pretty good friends. Presley is quiet and shy...and Ruby is...not. It is always fun to watch field trips with girls, because girls just love hugging. Everytime a friend would pass by, all would have to hug and giggle and smile, wave goodbye...then another friend...hug, giggle, wave...and so on and on. We had to get pictures with Jordan and Leyton and Mrs. Long.
Our first group activity was the IMAX movie. The kids were all super excited to be in here, as I assume most have parents like me that skip this added cost, but it was included in this field trip...along with free popcorn and Sprite (wow!). We heard the IMAX cool opening presentation about how cool their sound is...then the film started...We got to see "The Serengeti" which was a documentary about the Serengeti. I really don't know much more than that, because I think my eyes closed at the title slide, but I am pretty sure it was about mythological beasts. When I woke up, Ruby and Presley were giggling at me.
We next made our way down to the school lunch area hidden on the bottom floor where we enjoyed our Subway sandwiches. I had chocolate chip cookies for both girls, so we were happy with our meals. We were able to play in the museum for a little more before visiting our last group activity, where we saw some science experiments in the Rushton theater. That was pretty fun, with all the kids loving the star wars light sabers powered by the Tesla coil. Liquid Nitrogen is also good for party tricks. And the Science guy finished it all off with the lights off, and watching lightning pass across the coils in front of us. Super cool to watch. Love Love Love my fun day with Ruby, and the crazy driving to get here was well worth it.
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