We toured a zoo

Volunteered to chaperone Jack's class trip to the Bronx Zoo today. In the first place I wanted to help out on some class trip, and in the second place, I love animals. So I loaded up the backpack with water and snacks and sunblock, and hopped on the bus with the kids.

I was in charge of three kids: Jack, Kevin, Peter. Both were his friends, he'd mentioned them before. I shared a seat with Peter and Jack on the way there. Five minutes into the trip, Peter said to me, "Did you see the movie 'Speed'?" Uh...yes. Did you?

Jack was pretty happy that his Dad was one of the chaperones. A decent amount of parents went (1 for every 3 or 4 kids, plus some teachers, so I guess about 15ish parents), but a lot of those parents go on most class outings. So it was a big deal to him that I was there, and that was pretty cool. Everyone was pretty happy on the bus on the way down, the kids around us singing goofy songs like, uh, Wheels on the Bus.

One of the guidelines we were given was to stay with another group, so there'd be multiple adults if there was a problem. At the front gate, though, was sheer chaos of different class groups from schools and what have you across the New York Metropolitan area, I imagine, and we'd been standing around for 10 minutes when Mrs. Huhne (Jack's teacher) indicated we could go if we got in. Minutes later we'd ditched the rest of the class and were gazing at lemurs and lizards.

Kids like to run, so we did a lot of zipping about from exhibit to exhibit. What was funny to me was when they'd be fascinated by one of the information boards or signs, while a huge grizzly bear or giraffe was just across the way. Hey guys, look! A tiger! "Look Dad, if I stand next to this cardboard tiger we can see how big it is compared to us...."

We saw lots of animals...sleeping...because it was the middle of the day and it was hot. But the polar bear played with a big beach ball thingy while swimming around his watery home, that was cool. And the grizzly bears apparently fought a little bit, according to somebody else, but we only saw them walking around. The Lions lifted their heads and gazed at us as if to say, What are YOU looking at? The baboons put their faces up against the glass. Somebody said, "Rafiki!" which is the name of the baboon in Lion King I guess.

I doled out water and raisin snacks, then we met up with the other groups for lunch. I don't know if I've ever seen kids have so much fun eating lunch. I think they were just having a blast being at the zoo and out and about with their friends.

We saw more animals, blew some money at the gift shop, and I bought them ice cream. We took the bus home all intact and together, and then Jack and I came home, me to the work I'd been away from, and him to write a journal entry (""Me, daddy, and my class went on a field trip to the Bronx Zoo. Here is the story. I was in a group with Kevin and Peter. Here is our favorite places. Madagascar. Bears. World of Reptiles. Mouse House. Baboon Reserve." He also drew a picture of a baboon.)

Just before we went to pick up Kate today, Jack came over and hugged me. He said, "I can't tell you how much fun I had with you."

I'm not sure it gets much better than that.