On Friday May 15th, my son's fifth grade class took a field trip to Seattle. They boarded the bus at 2:00AM at school and drove across the state, arriving earlier in the morning than some teenagers wake up. I drove over Thursday afternoon, spent the night at my sister's house and joined them around 7:00 in Issaquah for breakfast. By 9:00 we were cruising Puget Sound. Some of these kids had never been to Seattle.
There is a special spot out there that everyone tried to stand on. These two made it before it was time to go in and start the program.
We spent most of our day drifting off this beach, only powering up the engines when the sand came too close to us.
Our group's first activity was netting plankton to examine as a group, then under a microscope.
Different nets yielded different sizes and colors of plankton.
Our group gathered around this screen while one of the guides showed us what we found. These folks came from my son's net, which had larger holes, and therefore was easier to pull through the water at a rapid rate, catching the swimmers but not the tiny drifters.
Samples of larger marine life.
Even without the microscope, it is possible to see things in the sample.
Squinting to see who is in there.
Many parts are edible, and yes he did eat this comb jelly on the suggestion of the guide.
Testing water samples. It was cold and salty. I would have jumped in at 48 degrees, just to see what it was like, but my swimsuit was back at my sister's house.
Back out on the deck, we looked at some samples of larger marine life, which we handled later. At this point, the main focus was removing a molar from a certain jaw.
In the afternoon, a diver joined us and took a video camera down. We had several screens to watch what he was doing.
One of the many sea creatures he showed us.
Touch and feel time. This is a chitin, which is resembles a sea going pill bug.
This is the same guy the diver showed us on the video.
Star of the sea.
They used the cranes to bring the mountain out for us too.
After dinner on the waterfront, the kids and chaperones hopped back on the bus for a return to school around 10:00 PM. My boy and I hopped in the car and drove an hour to my sister's house. We spent the weekend doing fun things that might show up in my next post, when I find time.
There were dinosaurs to see.
There was a way to measure our size relative to the universe.
There were some really big bugs.
There were some real live butterflies, which given enough opportunity would land on someone. Is this enough opportunity?
This one found a leaf.
This one found my sleeve. I did not take a picture of the one that landed on my camera.
There were flowers in there too.
My favorite color.
This is what happens when he sits still.
Those shoes can run, but they can sit too.
He did not touch enough wet slimy things yesterday, so here are some more. This time, he kept his teeth in his head.
What cute little boys.
Outside, there was a bike to ride in circles.
Eyeball humor crops up everywhere.
They brought the mountains out for us again! I am glad they found a use for the cranes during the recession.
A perfect ending to a beautiful day.
Musically talented from an early age, too.
Congratulations to all of you.
When done running, bounce?