Whale Watching Field Trip

My kids go to the best school ever!  The school hosts a number of field trips every  year. All of them are fabulous!

The field trip protocol is this:  You sign up, pay the fee (which is the school group price plus a few dollars more and the extra goes to a playground supply fund), you transport your children to and from the field trip, and you chaperon your children too. They also encourage you to bring friends, especially friends who might be good recruits. There are no buses, no asking parents to volunteer as chaperons, it's just set up so that if your child attends the field trip, so do you. Easy as that!

Since I'm a stay-at-home mom, this field trip thing totally works for me. And, I get in on the fun! Gotta love that!

Yesterday, we went on a Whale Watching Excursion with the school. We went in May also. It was fun then, and this trip was fun too!

I brought recruitable friends! My friend Kristin and her two little girls came with us, in fact, she drove. I guess that means I went with her.  It was great to have our good friends along with us because the downside of these field trips is that each child is with their family and the families tend to stick together and not mingle much. I don't know very many of the students and families well. It was great to share this day with our awesome friends! The four girls really enjoyed their outing together. I think being with friends adds a lot of value to the experience. Libby's favorite Kindergarten friend went too. She had her family and they brought friends too.  Of course, Gracie knew everyone on the boat by name. She probably knew the full price passengers too, she's overly social like that.

The boat ride was great! We left from the dock right on time and returned promptly too. Nobody puked! I consider that a great success!

We saw seals or sea lions, I'm not sure which even though the captain announced what we were viewing and what the differences are. I still forgot.

We saw a very large pod of common dolphins. That's actually the name of that kind of dolphin, "common dolphin".  There were hundreds of them!  The captain again made announcements and described life as a dolphin. There was a mother and baby pair that swam close to the boat. So cute!  All of the dolphins were swimming and leaping in and out of the water, they were really neat to see!  Especially such a large group of them.

No whales were sighted. I am glad.  Sure, I like these whale watching trips, but I am secretly afraid of whales. They are huge! The boat we're in isn't huge. I'm terrified that the whales will bump the boat from the bottom and put all of the passengers out to sea. I'm pretty sure that I am very yummy.

We came upon another pod of dolphins and the captain slowed down the boat, he was very excited. Instead of his scripted announcement, his voice was exuberant. We saw Pacific White Sided Dolphins. The captain said it was a rare treat to see them.

After we docked, the kids were hungry and antsy. I'm not sure which was worse, but my friend and I decided to let them play on the beach before we fed them. That way, we can lure them off of the beach to eat, otherwise they'll want to play all day and the whining will be nonstop. It's a good trick, they'll leave playtime if you offer them food and they are hungry.

Once they were on the beach, they completely forgot about being hungry. They played for two hours! The same children who were freezing cold on the boat, they all wore two jackets each, and three of them wore winter hats, were now in swimsuits and dashing in and out of the waves. They built sandcastles, chased seagulls, looked for seashells and had a grand time.

The clouds were weird and strange and interesting and beautiful! There was a curved break in the clouds that looked like a tornado in the photos.

Finally, at 3pm they were ready for lunch. We walked down the end of the pier to Ruby's and we ate well. It was delicious! The kids ate plenty (except one kid). The portions were generous. My friend picked up the tab and the tip. She's an awesome friend! I'm keeping her!

We stopped in the beach bathroom before hitting the road for home. Gracie came out of the stall and said "Mom! Someone forgot their phone!" She was very concerned. We asked around a bit but nobody claimed it and then I looked and it had two missed calls in the last few minutes.  I called that number back and said "We just found this phone" and the lady on the other end was very excited! She said to stay at the bathroom and she'd be right back. I told her we would be right next to the bathroom on the playground. We waited a while and just when we were starting to wonder how far away this lady had gotten, she showed up. She had already driven away. She was very happy to get her phone back, and she recognized Gracie from the excursion! Didn't I tell you Gracie knows everyone? She said her daughter goes to the same school. Then she handed Gracie a dollar bill and said she wanted to show her appreciation by giving her a reward and that's all that she had. We thanked her kindly, but Gracie was rewarded plenty just by seeing this lost phone returned and the lady was obviously happy to have it back in her hands. Gracie also didn't know anything about rewards for finding lost things. The lady hopped back in her vehicle and off she went.

Gracie looked at the folded dollar in her hand, unfolded it and found that there were two $20 bills. What!!! Whoa!

Gracie's little friend was jealous that Gracie got cash and she didn't, so Gracie gave her one. I thought that was just fine since it was an accidental finding and no matter which one of us had gone in the stall where the phone was, we would have still done our best to return it.  Both of the girls understood that it was something very important to someone and it needed to be returned. They both have big hearts. So, sharing the reward was a good idea and I'm glad they thought of that on their own.  I don't know if either one of them realizes that $20 is more than $1. Their mommies are credit card swipers.

We ended up leaving Newport Beach just at the right time to be part of the five o'clock traffic on the 91. It was slow going and my friend was driving, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the visit.

Could the day have been better? No. Not possible. It was so great! A day with my girls, friends, dolphins, beautiful weather, good food, a good deed, and I didn't have the stress of driving in heavy traffic! It was amazing!

School Started! Yippeeee!

I am one happy mama!  Why do they let school out for the summer anyway? Kids should be in school year round, maybe just swap out the teachers on a seasonal basis. My poor kids were bored all summer and they had to do horrible things: Chores.

Mostly Gracie did chores, Libby played with Charlie and kept them occupied and out of the way. That was a huge help! Gracie did dishes, laundry, vacuuming, taking out the trash, etc. She grew up a lot this summer.

Gracie started second grade. I remember when I was in second grade. Her school is very different from mine, but I'm sure she will have a good year. She's already off to a bad start with her attitude. She doesn't want to do any homework! This makes the homeschool portion of school more challenging. Sigh. I don't even want to think about what the future holds for this kid when she hits middle and high school and really has homework!

Because she's in Montessori school, she has the same teacher and is in the same classroom as last year. There isn't much of a change for her. I am happy about that, I remember and my friends are all talking too, of the anxiety of worrying about what teacher you would get for the next year and all of the unknowns. None of that for Gracie!  Well, some. More than half of her class was replaced by incoming students. The half that disappeared either moved or were in 3rd grade and they advanced to the upper elementary. I hope she makes some new friends, she loves having lots and lots of friends.

Libby is loving Kindergarten! Her class is full! There are 32 little students. I'm really not a fan of overcrowded classrooms. I sure hope it shrinks a bit more and I hope Libby doesn't get lost in the shuffle. The class had 41 students but they moved some of the siblings up to lower elementary to join the first grade in lower elementary. Libby is a sibling but didn't move up because she is still only 4 years old and has never had any preschool or daycare. The kids they moved up were either 6 or close to it and had preschool experience. I'm glad they left her in Kindy and I'm glad they made the decision and I didn't have to ponder what would be the best fit for her. Although, it would have been pretty cool to have both girls in the same class!

Kindergarten is off to a great start. Libby is in class with one of her little friends so she has a familiar little girl to hang with and isn't lost in a sea of strange little kids. I'm sure she would make fast friends, but it is comforting to know that she already has a little friend to start things off right. The class has already had a dentist come in and speak and they cooked a healthy snack in class on another day. Special guests and cooking in class in the first week - awesome!

The first day, I walked both girls to their classrooms and took a first day photo. The kindy class was so full of parents it was hard to squeeze into the room. But we made it in and found a little chair for Libby.  The second day, I only walked Libby to her class and helped her find her little friend. The third day, I drove through the car line and dropped them both off at the front gate. I didn't even get out! Gracie walked Libby to her class and helped her get settled in. I'm so proud of myself for sending my baby off to Kindergarten without shedding a tear or hovering too much. Yay, I'm growing up! 

So happy to have both girls in school! Poor Charlie spent a few lonely days waiting for 3:00 to go pick them up again. We'll have to find something fun to keep him busy while he has his alone time. He's not too excited about being left behind.

Driving the Mom-Bus to school

School starts tomorrow!  Time to think about how much the Mom-Bus is going to cost these kids, er, Daddy.

I think it is ridiculous that our school charges $395 per kid for a bus pass!  Second child gets a discount and pays $365. So I figured out how much it will cost me to drive my kids. I wouldn't bus them anyway because they go to a school that isn't serviced by the school buses, but that didn't stop me from being curious.

At $3.89 per gallon and 24 miles to the gallon in my car, I drive 3.21 miles to school. It costs me $1.04 to go one way and I do the round trip twice per day for 103 days of school. That's 1322.5 miles of driving back and forth to school. Total damage: $214.24.

A friend of mine takes her child to school via bike and trailer. She rides her bike and pulls him to school in the bike trailer every single day. Heat, rain, wind, stuffy nose, traffic, she pedals that kid to school. I'm not that amazing. Read about her transportation calculation HERE.

I figure that my kids won't attend every single day, but the times that I have to make an extra trip mid-day for the forgotten lunch box will make up for the times when they don't attend. It'll all even out in the end. For this guesstimate, I am just saying that they will attend every academy day and  never forget anything. And, gas prices will never fluctuate.

This calculation also does not include Starbucks stops on the way back home. Tee hee. Nor does it include professional driving and referee fees.

The public school bus would cost $760 or riding in my back seat costs $214. That's a total savings of $546.

Riding with me is a freaking STEAL! Good deal, people.

Whale Watching - Best School Field Trip Ever

When I was a kid in a little town in Montana going to public school, we didn't go on any field trips. Or, if we did, I don't remember them. My sister's class all went on a field trip once, they walked across the street to our house to see a live turkey in our backyard. His name was Fuzzy and we ate him for Thanksgiving dinner. She should blog about that someday. Anyway, that's the only time I can recall anyone ever going on a school field trip.

My older two daughters went to elementary school in South Dakota. They went on one field trip. Every year the fourth graders went to an event called "Ag Day" and they went somewhere that the 4-H kids had set up convention style with booths. Booths of livestock and farm information.

Gracie's school has totally blown me away. They have a field trip every month and this month: Whale Watching Cruise. Oh yeah!  Montana and South Dakota have got nothing on California! This school rocks!!!

For a two hour whale watching cruise, the cost per person was $11. The museums cost more than that!

We got up early and left early because the cruise was out of Newport Beach which is a little over an hour away in perfect conditions. But on a weekday morning, we had to battle the commuter traffic on one of the busiest freeways in the state. This means we were traveling at top speeds of 20 and sitting parked on the freeway when it would come to an unexplainable halt. So boring!  We squeezed Gracie, Libby and Charlie in the back seat and with them squished together the ride seemed even longer. It took us two hours to get there, but we made it on time.

We checked in and waited for 45 minutes to board the boat. The kids have now been bored to death for 3 hours.

The people who paid regular price for their tickets were boarded first, and they were sent to the upper deck. The school group was loaded onto the main deck.  The boat looked smaller than it was. A long line of people boarded and there was still room for us. Everyone was choosing just the right spot to sit, little did we realize that everyone would shuffle around and trade places over and over again.

My first thought while on the lower deck was that if anyone on the upper deck were to lean over the railing in the midst of sea-sickness, the puke will land on the people below. That'd be me.

Newport Beach Harbor is beautiful! The weather was awesome too. Even the kids enjoyed the harbor and seeing the boats and homes along the shore with the Los Angeles skyline on the horizon. Very pretty!

So far the ride was nice and smooth, but the kids were hanging onto the railing for dear life. Libby already didn't like the motion of the boat on the water and we were going slow on the easy stretch. Might be a long cruise for the kid.

As soon as we were in the ocean water, we saw sea lions on a buoy. All of the kids on the boat were super excited!

And.... now the kids are bored. And cold. And feeling queasy.

We went into the cabin and sat in a booth. Now they wanted candy and crap from the snack counter. I brought snacks, but they want overpriced sugar from the boat guy. No. 

This is going to be a very long two hour cruise.

After a while we came upon a pod of dolphins. We saw several pods of dolphins, one group after another. It was great! The kids loved seeing the dolphins swim alongside the boat. They jumped and squealed and waved their flippers and tails. I'm sure they were very happy to see the boat full of school kids!

Everyone wanted to see a whale, but the dolphins were very fun to watch. We never did see any whales.

Actually, I was glad that we didn't see any whales. The thought of whales made me nervous. What if they bump the boat and tip us over? I know, these whale watching cruises run multiple times a day and they didn't mention that whales tend to tip over the boat and eat the passengers, but that thought was prominent on my mind.

The teacher asked me if I heard the safety announcements at the top of the cruise, and it occurred to me that I hadn't.  But I did a quick scan earlier to look for marked storage places where floatation devices were. Someone else said they heard the safety schpeel, so I must not have been paying attention when it was announced. Not that it mattered, the idea of whales still made me nervous.

More dolphins! Yay!

Libby didn't care about any of the dolphin watching. She was queasy and cold and miserable. She really didn't like the motion of the boat.

Charlie was feeling confined. The boat wasn't big and he wasn't allowed to run amuck. He's two! He must run around! Poor kid. Gracie wanted to run with her friends and swing on the railings and jump over people and squeeze through others. One hour to go.

More dolphins! Look kids! Dolphins!  They didn't care any more.

At this point, the whales could come and put us out of our misery. Yes, that's how much the kids were enjoying the cruise. 

At least Gracie was having fun with her school friends. I was so glad she was having a good time and hanging with her friends! She had been doing a lot of recent complaining about fitting in socially and idolizing some other kids in her class, all of that finding her place in the social construct of the playground sort of thing. This was great to see her interact with her peers and I found out first hand that she exaggerates her social woes. She's just fine and her friends treat her well and she has nothing to complain about. I was actually worrying about her. This cruise was good for that anyway.

Libby and Charlie fell asleep. Yes!!! They won't give me that "Can you make this super disappointing boat ride end already" look anymore.

When we were returning to the harbor, we saw a huge swarm of seagulls attacking the water. The Captain said they were eating anchovies. It was kind of creepy and weird.

Just like that, the whale watching cruise was done! Yay! It was great! Ok, I am just trying to convince myself that it was great. It was boring and the kids were too confined for their enjoyment. The school kids loved it, but they are old enough to get a bigger thrill out of it than the two littler kids. Gracie had a great time. I was so happy to get off of that boat with the kids!

We searched for a playground near the dock or anywhere near, actually. These kids were as well behaved as they could have been and they had 5 hours of pent up energy, and were recharged by short naps. A two hour drive home would not be easy if they don't play.

There are no playgrounds at Newport Beach.

None.

Luckily, it only took an hour and a half to get home and that included a stop for fast food lunch.

Now if you ask the kids, they will say how much fun they had when we went on a big boat in the ocean. They saw dolphins and birds and can't wait to go again!  I love that their memory of the day is so much happier than the actual cruise was. That makes it worth the hassle.

None of them puked. And nobody on the top deck puked on the people on the lower deck (specifically, me). Nobody fell overboard. Whales did not tip us over. 

With that, I declare the whale watching trip a total success! Let's do it again!

The Many Adventures of Flat Tyler

We hosted a Flat Stanley these past couple of weeks. He is in transit back to his classroom in Colorado now, but we sure had fun with while we had him. 

We kept him busy and made sure he wrote in his travel log daily. He was very good about posing for pictures and gathering local brochures.

Here is a copy of Flat Tyler's journal:

Flat Tyler’s Travel Log

I arrived safely into the mailbox of my cousins, The Schumacher Family, in California.

Uncle Keith (who is actually my grandma’s cousin) is a middle school teacher and he teaches college. Aunt Mary is the mom of the family and the kids are my cousins, Gracie and Libby. Gracie is 7 years old and in the first grade. Libby is 4 ½ years old and will be in Kindergarten next year. Gracie goes to school part-time and does homeschool part-time.

 They also have a dog named Sandy. She’s 12 years old and very sweet.  

While I was visiting, The Schumachers had company. I met Uncle Ed from Las Vegas, Grandma Helen from Wyoming, Aunt Patty from Montana and cousin Jennifer also from Montana. They drove to California to spend a weekend with me and the Schumachers. Mostly, they wanted to meet Baby Alfred, my newest cousin.

The Schumachers took me to lots of places to see the local sites and experience California culture.  Gracie and Libby taught me to say “Chaw” and “Dude” like a Californian. I never needed my jacket or hat because it’s nice and warm there.  I told them about Colorado; they’ve never been there. The girls didn’t know what skiing is, but they have seen snow and pine trees when they took a winter vacation to Wyoming and South Dakota last year.  

Western Science Center -  Hemet, CA:  Gracie, Libby, Henry and I went to a dinosaur museum. It was a lot of fun! We saw the bones from a mammoth and a sloth. We got to see a short movie about dinosaurs in the Inland Empire (that’s what they call this area of California) and we got to make a fossil out of clay .

Busker Festival at Seaport Village:  We went to San Diego to the Busker Festival. A Busker is a street performer. Seaport Village is a shopping and eatery center along the edge of the San Diego Bay. We saw lots of different street performers and artists. There were musicians, dancers, acrobats and magicians. We also saw an escape artist and a couple of unicycle riding jugglers. 

Duck Pond – Temecula, CA:  One day we went to a city park called the Duck Pond. All it has is a pond and a walking path around it.  It was nice and there were a lot of ducks!  I had to be careful not to flutter in the wind or I’d end up swimming with the ducks.  

San Diego Air and Space Museum: We set out for an adventurous day at the San Diego Zoo. When we got there, the parking lot was packed solid and so was the overflow parking and every parking lot in the area. Aunt Mary finally found a parking spot but it was pretty far from the zoo. Conveniently, she discovered that we parked close to the Air and Space Museum. Gracie and I thought that was a better idea anyway!

The Air and Space Museum has a special Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit and we were able to see the museum and the Ripley’s exhibit too.  It was a lot of fun. We came home with coloring pages and paper airplane origami pages for fun at home. I got to see Bumblebee there!

Cabrillo National Monument:  We drove out to Point Loma which is a Navel Base at the tippy end of a peninsula. It was really cool!  From the point, you can see the San Diego Bay, the harbor, and the Pacific Ocean in the other direction.

Cabrillo was a European explorer and he is the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the United States.  This monument recognizes his adventures. He’s just like me: an adventurer discovering amazing places!  Cha!  (I’m really getting a hang of the California language).

There is also an old lighthouse at the National Park and you can go down to the shore to the tidepools and caves. There are small caves in the sides of the cliffs that were made by erosion. The land is very interesting and goes from shrub covered hills on one side of the peninsula to sand covered eroded cliffs on the other. 

Coronado Island, San Diego:  We drove across a huge bridge over the San Diego Bay to Coronado Island.  We played in the sand on the beach by the Ferry landing where I met a friend, another Flat Stanley! He didn't speak English, but we played and had a good time anyway.

Balboa Park:  Balboa Park is in the middle of San Diego. It houses the San Diego Zoo, a couple of playgrounds, numerous museums and gardens. The day we went, we just strolled on the walkways and enjoyed the local artists, played in the fountains, and admired the architecture.  Luckily, the bird rescue group was at Balboa Park so we got to see the birds again. We saw them at the Busker Festival too! They save abandoned pet parrots and exotic birds and readopt them to new homes. We didn’t adopt a bird, but we did get to hold a few. Libby doesn’t like to hold them because she thinks they will poop on her. She finally decided to try it and it was a lot of fun.

 

Easter:  I celebrated Easter with the Schumacher family. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt party at a friend’s house. He name is Justin and he’s 5 years old like me. His back yard is landscaped with natural California grasses and plants, so it was a lot of fun. They have the best back yard for an egg hunt! 

On Easter Sunday we went to a friend’s house for dinner. We had lots of great food. The Sanchez family had two dogs and two tortoises. They were really neat! They had an area of the back yard underneath the tree house that was their home. They live outside in the yard. One tortoise lost a leg so the family glued on a wheel from a toy car so she could get around. They both crawled faster than I thought they would. They love to eat dandelions. 

Science Center:  This is a museum in Balboa Park. The girls love this place. When we entered the museum the employee who greeted us at the entrance said, “Have fun and touch everything.”  Awesome!  We had a great time playing with all of the science center exhibits. There is a part of the museum that looks like a city and we played there for a while too.

Montessori School: One day I went to school with Gracie. She is in Ms. Andria’s class. Gracie is in a mixed class of 1^st – 3^rd grade. They have lunch outside on picnic tables. Their parking lot is also the playground and the gym. Most elementary schools have a playground but they do not have a cafeteria or a gym. They eat and play outside every day. Gracie and her classmates have never had a snow day.

Disneyland and Cars Land:  On my last day in California, I went with the Schumacher girls to Disneyland and California Adventure.  Gracie and Libby go to Disneyland often because it isn’t very far away. We left after school and got home a little after bedtime.

First we went into Disneyland. It was very exciting! We saw Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Goofy right away. Our first stop was the first aid station because Gracie’s tooth was falling out and she wanted an envelope or something to put it in when it fell out. They were very nice and gave her a little container. We walked up Main Street. Gracie’s favorite part of Main Street is the Magic Shop. It was amazing! Libby wanted to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire. We saw Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. I was made an honorary citizen of Disneyland and I got a button to wear for the rest of the day. Then we rode the Small World. We then went into Fantasyland and rode Alice in Wonderland’s Teacups.

Next we went to California Adventure, which is where Cars Land is. Cars Land is amazing! It is just like you step into the Cars movie! I got to meet Mater and Lightning McQueen! I also got to see the main street of Radiator Springs and see Ornament Valley. When it got dark, all the neon lights came on and it was just like it was in the movie. We rode on Mater’s Tractor ride which was more fun than anything!

Playing Pranks on the Sub

Substitute teaching isn't easy. I did it a few times in good ol' Milbank, South Dakota (where no college degree was required to be a sub). Right now, Gracie's class has a sub while her teacher is out on maternity leave.

The sub is actually a staff member at the school, she's an aid for two of the lower elementary classrooms. And, now she's the teacher while the classroom teacher is out. I don't know if they brought in a sub for her aid position or not.

The four lower elementary teachers are a a tight knit group of professional friends. The aids are also a part of the comradery, so the sub is being pranked with love.

The sub is Miss Tiffany. The classroom next door is Miss Julia's. Miss Julia is the class clown in her class and Miss Tiffany is trying her best to fill the big shoes of the teacher who is out on leave, she's working so hard to make sure every i is dotted and every t is crossed. It's been a couple of weeks now and Miss Tiffany has things running smoothly and she's got a good groove going on.

Miss Julia must have been waiting for her to get comfortable, and then she couldn't resist any longer. The pranks began. Miss Julia whispered to the kids to bark like dogs in class, just random barking. The kids from Miss Julia's class were knocking on the windows. There were little jokes like this going on, small disruptions but apparently there have been lots of funny little things instigated by Miss Julia.

Miss Tiffany is no fool. Today, she had her class run through Miss Julia's class while screaming. Disruption matched and trumped! She has plans tomorrow to have the kids make lots of white chads (the cut out paper holes from a hole-puncher) and scatter them all over Miss Julia's classroom. It'll be a blizzard! The kids are looking forward to it already. Wonder how excited the custodians will be?

The classroom teacher should be back in mid-February. I sure hope the hazing of Miss Tiffany ends sooner than that, but for now it's fun to hear my first grader come home and laugh while she tells of the teachers' antics. She says they crack her up!

Mystery History

October's school project was called "Mystery History". The assignment was to research a historical figure, report and present to the class information learned. The grand finale of this project was a big event at school where each student dresses like the historical figure they chose, and the other students try to guess who it is.

When I read the assignment description to my first grader she didn't get very excited about it until the word "costume" came into play. Apparently, that's the only thing she heard. The kid has selective hearing just like her father.

Once again, choose a person from history and find out all about that person.  "History? Does that mean a long time ago?"  "Yes."  Cue the flailing of the arms, stomping feet and the extra loud whining. "I don't wanna dress up like an old person! I wanna be a princess!" I decided to just let her get it out of her system and I didn't press it further.

She settled down and said, "Mom? Were there any princesses in history?"  "Yes."  She bolted up from her super slouchy position to sitting on the edge of her seat with wide eyes. "Really?" "Yes!" "Was Cinderella a real princess from history?" "No." "Were any Disney princesses real?" "Yes: Pocahontas and Mulan. But there were a lot of real princesses." "Any real princesses in history named Gracie?" "Yes."

Exuberant jumping up and down and happy squeals.  I think we found our historical figure!  "Mom! Let's google her right now!"

I helped guide her through picking out important facts about Grace Kelly that she could use for her presentation. She just needed some talking points, not an essay, but she needed to know about her life and so we read all about her. It was kind of fun.

Gracie made her list of "clues" and I made her costume. Ready!

Gracie chose the dress that I would replicate for her; to my delight she chose the black and white gown from "Rear Window". It's so pretty!  Since my Gracie is a child, I made a few alterations to the design of the neckline. I didn't think she needed a swooping Vneck exposing a lot of bare back, nor did she need to have her dress barely hanging off of her shoulders. Don't get me wrong, I love the dress and it's lovely lines! But, the costume needs to stay on an active six-year old for an entire day.

To finish the costume, we purchased long white gloves from the Halloween aisle at Target, and topped her head with her sister's tiara that she bought at Claires  years ago for prom. Perfect! In the movie, Grace Kelly did not wear a tiara with that dress, but it added to the princess aspect of the character. In total, the entire costume cost around $10.

I omitted the detail work on the hips of the movie star's dress. I desperately wanted to add it, but I ran out of time. The dress looked great without it, and so I just let it go at that. Not a perfect copy, but close enough.

The event at school was great! Organized costumed chaos at its best. There are four classes of approximately 30 kids each. The teachers had all of the kids stand in a large circle and one class plus all of the parents were to mingle around as if they were at a wax museum. The museum subjects stood still (supposedly) and gave the museum guests clues as to who they were. The museum guests then tried to guess who the mystery history figure was. And, on to the next. Every now and then, the teachers would switch the mingling class for a standing class.  But, with all of the mingling, the kids standing still found this a great opportunity to talk amongst themselves as did the parents. Wandering through the crowd, the conversations were all about the kids history characters, so even though it seemed like chaos, the purpose of the event was right on. There were a lot of great historical figures in the room, very cool! In fact, it reminded me of the movie, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" when they gathered so many people from  history together.

The teachers: Cleopatra, Albert Einstein, Maria Montessori and Mona Lisa

Historical characters acting as wax figures waiting to give clues to the museum guests.

Educational Chaos

Princess Grace with Princess Diana

Betsy Ross, Princess Grace, and Amelia Earhart

Walt Disney, Shirley Temple and others try to guess Princess Grace's name