The I.P.M.

On Wednesday this week, I went along as a parent volunteer on Max's second field trip of the year (already.)

 

To the I.P.M. {International Plowing Match} A.K.A. {also known as} G.S. {Gong Show} held in Roseville, ON this year...practically in our neighbourhood.

 

OH. MY.

 

The only phrase that adequately describes this entire day from start to finish is gong show. I can't come up with anything else.

 

This was one field trip I would have been more than content to stay at home and skip. It's outdoors. You spend an entire day wandering through tent cities. With thousands of other people. And school kids....all the school kids from the region were also there on field trips. The weather forecast was showing an entire week of rain. Except for Wednesday. Wednesday showed a little yellow sun amidst the sea of rain clouds the rest of the week. And I thank God for that small blessing! So why did I sign up to go? Because it's just the type of field trip that I need to go on. Otherwise I would spend all day nervously at home worrying about Max getting seperated from his group and lost. Do I sound like an over protective mother? Perhaps. But let me just say...I experienced more than my share of lost kids on this exact field trip. I've volunteered on enough of them through the years to know which ones I really need to go on and which ones are not as big of a deal (from a mama's perspective!).

 

The day before it had rained all day. We went expecting lots of mud. Which there was. But they did a good job with laying down woodchips to help minimize the muddyness. I was on the same bus as Max but didn't actually see him until we got to the Match. And look at that. He left his hoodie and jacket at school. The only child on a bus of 50 that forgets his jacket. And it was chilly out. Oiye. At least he remembered to wear his boots!

 

The group we were in had 3 adults (one of which was the teacher) and 17 kids. It was a challenge. My head was swivelling and counting all day and trying to make sure no one got seperated and teamed up with another school group. (There were thousands and thousands and thousands of school kids...all the same age and size!) The best part of the day for our kids was being able to play in the mud holes and around old tree stumps. They loved trying to get their boots stuck in the mud so that they couldn't get out.

 

 

 

The big challenge of the day was trying to get to watch events ahead of the crowds. By the time our group would arrive the stands would be filled and the crowds would be 5 deep around the edges. Impossible for our kids to see what was going on. This was the case for the "Dancing Tractors", the "Lumberjack Show" and the "Barn Raising".  At one point, us adults were tired and weary from counting and trying to keep everyone together. Our views at the lumberjack show were very limited. But it was next to an empty field. So we told them to go run and play and burn off some energy. And they did for a long while. We started a trend. After we left the field, we noticed other school groups being told to go and do the same thing!

 

During our wanderings, we bumped into Aunt Heather! She was there for the day, helping mom at her booth. This was also about the same time we were walking by the "lost and found tent" and noticed a kid from Max's class sitting in there. He could not be released to us, even though his teacher was in our group. He had to wait until his group leader came to get him. See? Lost kids!

 

We managed to get the kids seats on the bleachers to watch the RAM Rodeo. This next photo is like a "where's waldo" scene. Can you spy Max?  And also, while we were sitting here, we may have heard them make an announcement for another lost kid from Max's class... this kid wasn't in our group but when we heard the name, we all looked at each other and said "heyyyyyyyy! That's one of our kids!"

 

The end of the day. It took over an hour for us to get shuttled from the Match on tractors and wagons, to our buses and back to the school. And we almost lost one of our kids in that process....he was standing in line to board a different bus and that happened in the last 2 minutes of the day! As it was, during the day we found another little boy who was crying and lost from his group and we had to take him to lost and found. And another kid from our school missed his bus and luckily found us and came back on our bus to the school.

 

Two words. Gong Show!

 

All the parents and teachers had headaches on the way home.

 

No wonder! ;)

 When I got home I headed straight for a bubble bath to de-stress. Good thing I can laugh (hysterically?!) about it now!