The "summer" they were seeking wasn't the nine-week vacation from school. No, the wealth of experience they had gained during their long 13 years of life had taught them that "summer: the vacation," would eventually arrive. They were searching for something much more elusive: the actual season of "summer".
Most had heard tales of this "summer" from those who had ventured beyond our state's boarders to places where the growing season lasts longer than the audition phase of American Idol. A lucky few had even experienced "summer" after managing, though some fortuitous stoke of fate, to be awake and in town that week at some point in the past.
These brave crusaders believed in a "summer" camping trip that wouldn't require snow shovels and multiple pairs of long underwear. They hoped for "summer" swimming lessons that won't start with breaking a layer of ice off the top of the pool. They longed to play baseball on a field, instead of in a giant puddle of mud.
The kidlets wanted summer, darn it. And they wanted it now.
And so, after spending the supposed "spring months" doing some honor's level shivering, this brave group of over-achievers decided to sacrifice some of their pre-finals-study-time to track down our wayward warm weather.This particular group of kidlets was able to make this quest because they met a very strict list of extremely rigorous qualifications: 1) their class time occurred during the universally accepted time frame of lunch, 2) they all returned signed permission slips, and 3) they didn't set anything in the classroom on fire that one time I had to run something down to the office during class.
Also, unlike the communications kidlets pictured below, they did not use their allotted 4th quarter class presentation time to demonstrate the process of dressing a very unfortunate cat in a onesie. Now, that's not to say that they wouldn't have done it had the thought occurred to them, because I'm sure they would have. The point is that they made it through the semester without any incidents of animal cruelty and/or humiliation. So, unlike the com. kidlets, the honors English kids got to take a "field trip" a bit further from the classroom than the vending machines outside the lunchroom. 
Dressed in hooded sweatshirts and armed with an impressive store of knowledge that included memorized car insurance commercials and a slightly skewed sense of direction, they set out on their search for summer.
Also counted amongst their list of assets was their teacher/leader/inspiration, Miss H, who occasionally shouted out helpful advice such as, "Cross the street in a group!", "Stay out of people's yards, "Don't wave back to strangers in windowless vans", and "Don't pick up random jack rabbits by the ears unless you brought hand sanitizer with you!"
Besides shouting out helpful advice, Miss H spent the majority of her time counting and recounting kidlets in an attempt to make sure that none of them took the opportunity to escape from the field trip, return to the school, and take as many extra finals as they could before 3rd hour ended. Honors kidlets are weird like that.
Seventeen minutes and 34 car insurance commercial reenactments later, the kidlets arrived at their destination, the local symbol of summer: Dairy Queen!
They spent a great deal of time perusing the menu, hoping to order the most summerish items possible.
Then they packed themselves into the sun room part of the dining area, dipping fries in ice cream, drinking fry sauce, and soaking up the warm rays of sunshine.
As long as they didn't think about the rain clouds on the horizon or the 4th hour final they had waiting for them back at the junior high, it was easy for them to pretend that the elusive summer weather had arrived at last.
They were happy. And a little sticky. And, owing to the fact that they were almost 8th graders, kind of smelly.
They were so pleased with the results of their quest for summer, they managed to be model customers. They were polite. They used their inside voices, even when singing along with the dining atmosphere background muzak. They chewed with their mouths closed and kept the kidlet carnage to a minimum.
The physical carnage, that is. The level of emotional carnage caused by this little outing has somehow remained constant over the years.
All too soon, it was time for the kidlets to return to the school. Unfortunately, the combination of leaving the exaggerated warmth warmth of the glass sun room, consuming vast amounts of frozen treats, and the day's very unsummerish windchill, resulted in a return to their shivering status quo.
But either way, they couldn't get in those doors fast enough. Excited to get back to school? Honors kidlets are weird like that.
After a short period of reflection, and a mass exodus to the washrooms, the kidlets decided their quest was a success. They had tasted "summer", the freedom, the warmth, and the sweetness, the cups upon cups of free, chug-able fry sauce... if only for one brief moment. And now they could face the rest of finals week with the hope of better things to come...
... like after-school-desk-naps with dreams of nine weeks of empty creative writing turn-in boxes. At least, that was the hope of one of the summer searchers. Honors teachers are weird like that.
Want to see more photos of field trip traumatized Miss H? check out the posts from the first three DQ honors walks...
They were so pleased with the results of their quest for summer, they managed to be model customers. They were polite. They used their inside voices, even when singing along with the dining atmosphere background muzak. They chewed with their mouths closed and kept the kidlet carnage to a minimum.
The physical carnage, that is. The level of emotional carnage caused by this little outing has somehow remained constant over the years.
All too soon, it was time for the kidlets to return to the school. Unfortunately, the combination of leaving the exaggerated warmth warmth of the glass sun room, consuming vast amounts of frozen treats, and the day's very unsummerish windchill, resulted in a return to their shivering status quo.
They didn't waste any time waving to strangers in windowless vans or trying to catch stray jack rabbits. Once the school was in sight, they started jogging towards their warm classroom and their waiting finals.
Of course, I guess they just could have looked like they were jogging due to the 35 mph wind gusts blowing in the general direction of their finals.
But either way, they couldn't get in those doors fast enough. Excited to get back to school? Honors kidlets are weird like that.
After a short period of reflection, and a mass exodus to the washrooms, the kidlets decided their quest was a success. They had tasted "summer", the freedom, the warmth, and the sweetness, the cups upon cups of free, chug-able fry sauce... if only for one brief moment. And now they could face the rest of finals week with the hope of better things to come...
... like after-school-desk-naps with dreams of nine weeks of empty creative writing turn-in boxes. At least, that was the hope of one of the summer searchers. Honors teachers are weird like that.
Want to see more photos of field trip traumatized Miss H? check out the posts from the first three DQ honors walks...
4 comments:
What a cute, chubby cat! That was good, helpful advice. Especially the jack rabbit part. Hehehe! Another year has come and gone. Wow!
Sure hope you come visit often- now that you will have plenty of time of time on your hands. Haha.
so glad you all survived the dairy queen adventure. maybe next year you can make two trips!
You ROCK!
Wishing you a great "summer" break.
Post a Comment