First Field Trip

Fiona's preschool took their long-awaited first field trip today to the Green Meadows Farm and Petting Zoo in Floral Park, with her mother along as a chaperone. Fiona's class spent all of last week learning about farms and animals (cows and goats give milk, the rooster wakes the farm up) and also about proper field trip etiquette:

• Fasten your seatbelt on the bus
  
• Hold on to your chaperone's hand or a bad person might take you (see, Nana, that's what you're supposed to tell your daughter is going to happen!)

Apparently the lesson was so well imparted that when Mommy snapped this photo, Fiona was very worried because it meant Mommy was on the bus and didn't have her seat belt on yet. (By the way, as always, clicking on any of these photos will bring up a larger version.)

Anyway, the farm was a big hit, as the kids all got to see chickens and sheep, milk cows, ride ponies, go on a hayride, and finished off with a visit to the pumpkin patch. A few other observations gleaned from the parent who attended, before I just give the rest of this post over to the photos:

• We don't notice it so much since we haven't really seen her with kids her own age, but Fiona is tall. Granted, with a January birthday she's old for her class, and at this age it can make a huge difference, which is something else you notice when you see her with the other children. There's a big difference between 3 1/2 and 3, and you can also start to see how the girls are growing up faster than the boys by now.
  
  
• According to Miss Eny, Fiona is very attentive at circle time. It's pretty clear that the lesson is one of her favorite parts of the day. It's the part she likes to recreate at home (where she gets to play the role of Miss Eny, of course). And even when she was a baby we noticed how focused she can be when something catches her attention.
  
  
• She's making lots of friends. According to Andrea, multiple parents on the trip told her that their child talks about playing with Fiona at preschool. Of course, we can (and do) say the same thing about Fiona and their children.

All right, on to the photos of Fiona and her friends. This one is from the hayride, where she sat next to Tyler:

This is her friend Elaney (for those of you who have already heard her talk about her friends, it's definitely Elaney, not Melanie, and that's how you spell it):

And last we have Alex (standing) and, on the bench, Zayna, Stella, Fiona and Michelle: