Only One Child Puked

And guess who had him in her car? But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Jude's First Grade class went whale watching last week. When I was a kid, the big exciting field trip every year was to Mrs. Baird's Bakery - sort of the Texas version of Wonder Bread. Basically, it was a trip to a big, ugly factory. At the end, we each got a miniature loaf of bread. Pretty lame.

But whale watching? Uber cool. We have Jude's fabulous First Grade teacher, Miss Brown to thank for this uber coolness. They learned all about marine life for the week leading up to it, and even had a guest speaker, the man who led the whale watching expedition. Jude was all atwitter with excitement.

I, naturally, had volunteered to drive/chaparone, as we parents were the transportation. I was assigned three little boys, Jude, and his friends George and Patrick. The 45 minute drive to the marina started out well. The boys were extremely silly and loud. Eventually, little Patrick (who I don't really know, I'm afraid) said to me "Mrs. ?? (ah! almost said our last name, didn't I?), I think I'm going to throw up." "Oh joy!" I thought. Turns out, Patrick has a bit of a motion sickness issue. His mother kindly never mentioned this to anyone. Nor did she provide him with a coat (it was damned cold on that boat) or a sack lunch. Don't get me started. But then, come to think of it, he didn't need the sack lunch, because he was puking. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I gave Patrick a plastic trash bag, which I had wisely brought with me. One freeway. Traffic. Another freeway. So far, so good. I keep watching poor little Patrick in the rear view. He's fading, but being a little trooper. "Hang in there, Patrick!" I say encouragingly. "EWWW. Don't throw up on MEEEEE!!" says Jude, not so encouragingly.

We manage to get off the second freeway, and are a mere 5 minutes from the marina when I hear the sounds of urping from the back seat. George narrates "He's throwing up!" "He threw up!" "It's in the bag!!" I crane my head to see in the rear view and sweet little Patrick hold the bag up and proudly declares "It's in the bag!"

Sigh.

We get to the marina, and I quickily dispose of the tiny bag of vomit, and hand the vomiter over to the aforementioned Miss Brown. Gladly.

The rest of the trip was excellent, and fun was had by all.

This, I'm afraid, was all the time I spent with my child during the entire 2 hours we spent at sea. Because he was here...

Yep. Hanging off the very front of the bow. "I'm the King of the World!"

We saw one whale. Unfortunately, he was a rather shy fellow. And when I say "we" I mean about 5 of the adults, luckily, I was one of them. The "lookout" guy kept telling us to "watch for the blow". Which made me think of what we did in the bathrooms of discos during the early '80's. That, however, was not the kind of "blow" he was refering to. The "blow" is the little puff of spray that comes out of the whale's blowhole when he surfaces for air. We were told to watch the water, and when we saw something that looked like a little puff of smoke, that was the whale. But they only surface every 5 minutes or so, so we'd wait and wait and wait and the children would all lose interest. Then "puff" came the "blow", and all the grownups would shout and point "THERE, THERE, THERE!!!" And all the children would start to scream and by the time they looked...he was gone.

We did, however, see lots of California sea lions...

And a sick-looking pelican...

Little Patrick puked several more times, then sort of passed out on the lap of one of the other moms. He was a brave little trooper, neatly making it to the trash can every time. Then after finishing his throwing up, he'd run around like crazy with the other kids, enjoying the boat. I managed to get him home after our outing without further barfing in the car. I'm afraid the poor little man was empty. Apparently, a couple of the other moms also threw up, but luckily, Jude and I proved to be hearty seafarers.

And hopefully, when Jude looks back on this expedition, he will remember the adventure of a trip to sea, the wind, the spray in his face, the excitement of watching for the "blow", the wonder of the marine animals.

And not the puking.

Comments

[The gold digger]

I'm just impressed he called you "Mrs [lastname]" instead of by your first name, but then you are a Texan so you were raised right.

[Michele]

I bet he remembers the puking as well as the other stuff. Cuz, that's just plain cool.

You didn't get to go to Blue Bell? I try to stop every time I drive to Austin.

[Jan]

I'm with Michele - he'll remember the puking, along with the other stuff.

The old Mrs. Baird's plant out on Central Expressway has been closed down, which makes me sad. My friends and I used to go to the midnight movies on the weekends at the Highland Park Village theatre out on Mockingbird; I remember driving past Mrs. Baird's at 3 a.m., on our way home, and how absolutely wonderful it smelled.

[The Bug]

We were robbed as children! I don't even remember a field trip to the fire station... Although in the 7th grade we went to Old Salem where there were Moravians and fresh gingerbread - mmm...

Other than the puking it looked like a great day at sea - I like how INTERESTED Jude looks. I would probably have been trying to sneak & read my Dick & Jane book...

[kate]

that is way cool! i would have signed up to be a chaperone for that one! not so much my daughter's field trip to the local rock quarry. lame.

[Maureen@IslandRoar]

What a great shot of the two of you. And the sea lions. Poor little pukey boy...
Don't those field trips leave you completely exhausted???
I am past that stage now, and I look back fondly, but I always remember coming home and feeling completely whipped.

[rxBambi]

I got seasick from just looking at the pictures... blech. Oh and I'm going on a cruise in 22 days. haha
thank god for Transderm scop patches :)

that's a fab picture of Jude (the last one). very impressive, I love the light in his hair.

fyi - i just read your bit about yourself and just wanted to tell you that my mom was 44 when she had me (I had my daughters at 22 and 24)

[Heather (qtberryhead)]

Yes. Judes field trips are considerably better than any I ever went on.

[The Lawyer Mom]

This gives new meaning to "it's in the bag."

[Sara]

Whale watching? Lucky!

I wonder if Patrick's mom knew that he wouldn't be needing his sack lunch. The coat though? Come on, lady! Kids without proper coats are a huge pet peever of mine...I've been known to speak to strangers about their child's lack of clothing. Probably not cool to do.

Sea lions! Lucky!