Field Trip to Smithsonian American Art Museum

I chaperoned No. 1's field trip to the Smithsonian American Art Museum this past Friday. I hadn't been on many field trips with him lately as the last few field trips were what I considered more of "papi field trips". I say this not only because they were more outdoorsy (and this mama is so far from outdoorsy-unless it's a football field, of course), but a couple were also overnight trips. School rules would not allow us to sleep in the same hotel room or tent together since I'm a female. Thus, those were papi field trips.


It was about a 20 minute bus ride to get there. I once said it doesn't get worse than a bus full of Kindergarteners. I lied. Try riding with a bus full of sixth graders aka Tweens. My boy preferred to sit by his friends, which totally caught me off guard. I know he's growing up, but I still see him as my little boy. My heart was literally hurt for a few days after that. I guess I better brace myself for more heartache as we approach the teenage years.


Back to the bus ride; I ended up sitting next to a little girl in his class. Not surprisingly, the bus was pretty much split by gender. Boys on the right side, girls on the left. The girls chatted about Channing Tatum (yes, Channing Tatum-what the what!) and sang 99 bottles of beer on the wall while the boys attempted to get every truck that passed to toot their horn.


The tour itself lasted an hour. Just the right amount of time to keep (or at least try to keep) the attention span of 11 and 12 year olds. We saw all kinds of art (paintings, sculptures, drawings). One wall had upcoming exhibits which happened to include a semi-nude Greek goddess. Semi nude and sixth graders...need I say more?! If only they could stay this innocent forever.


I learned quite a bit about the history of our Country's art on this trip. However, the biggest lesson I learned is that my boy is growing up-whether I'm ready for it or not.