Field Trip Time

When I was a kid a field trip meant trip to the Buttercrust Factory for a tour at the end of which we each received a pencil, a ruler, and a slice of Buttercrust bread still warm from the ovens. That was the good field trip. The alternative was a trip to one of the missions of San Antonio. Everyone has heard of the Alamo, but there is also Concepcion, San Jose, Espada and San Juan. I am pretty sure I went to every one of those missions on a school field trip at some time or other.

Yesterday my third grader showed up with a permission slip for a field trip. I have to admit I am jealous! None of my field trips were remotely as interesting as this one promises to be. What makes it so cool? For starters it is 3 days long. A sleep over trip. Here is the description from the permission slip:

• Day1: Bus transfer after the regular school day to the Youth Hostel Büdingen. The group will be greeted by the youth hotel team with a welcome drink in an original middle ages goblet. After a warm dinner they will go by foot to the old town of Büdingen and participate in a Night Watchman stroll though the streets and narrow alleys of Büdingen.
• Day2: After breakfast the children will go to the Büdingen castle and enjoy a tour of the proerties of the princely families of zu Ysenburg and Büdingen. Lunch will consist of a lunch pack provided by the Youth Hostel. In the afternoon they will learn how the pages, knaves, and knights lived and worked in the middle ages. A museums education officer will give the children insights into the making of ink, writing on parchment paper with Carolingian script and a traditional middle ages writing utensil and creating a family crest. In addition they will be dazzled by a weapons exhiit. The day will end with a group barbecue in a special barbeque hut.
• Day3: After breakfast and vacating their rooms, the children will say goodbye and will take with them and array of memories and impressions of the Middle Ages. Bus transfer back to school by mid morning.

I am torn between being happy he gets to have this wonderful experience and wanting to grab on and hold him tight, he seems to be growing up too fast!