In a New York State of Mind with Sixth Graders

Perhaps the title should be "Were We Out of Our Minds to Go to New York with Sixth Graders?"

No, not at all. We (hubby and I) had a wonderful time, and I attribute much of it to the fact that there were more chaperons than students. My son attends a small Christian school and there are only nine kids in his sixth grade class. Eight of those kids were able to go on this overnighter to the city that never sleeps.

"I'm so glad that there is a 1:1 ratio of parents to children here," said the teacher before we took off.

My son leaned over to a friend and said, quite audibly, "Or in my case, 2 to 1."

I then leaned over to another mom and said, also quite audibly, "Some kids need 2 to 1."

Truth told, a trip to New York City has been on my 101 in 1001 list and I really wanted to make it a family memory. And for safety and navigational reasons, I wanted my husband to be with us. He was quite an asset to the leader when certain things didn't go as planned. My husband is good at flexing and thinking fast on his feet. He also has a terrific sense of direction and stamina extraordinaire.

One last bathroom break ("at least try" we perfunctorily tell the kids before leaving), a set of written directions,  a primer on safety,  and we're off! All those bake sales have put fuel in our tanks and wind in our proverbial sails.

We drove up to the New Jersey side of New York in five cars. I rode with a mom to get to know her better; hubby  rode with the leader  to get to know him better  because riding with two chatty women is not his idea of a fun trip   I suggested it.

Our son rode with his best friend and the friend's dad .   God bless that man. Those two boys talk as much as two girls. And they giggle as much, too, and they do guy stuff that's only funny to guys, and the dad didn't mind.  Or so he says.

The girls split up into various cars, ready for 3.5 hours of non-stop talk themselves. If there's one thing I never tire of, it's the happy excitement of children about to experience something new together.

---to be continued---