A Spontaneous Field Trip

The beauty of homeschooling is the flexibility to "go with the flow" and change your routine when unexpected events come your way. That said, I woke up this morning and heard on the radio that Laura and Jenna Bush were going to be in Winter Park signing copies of a new book that they co-authored. Sounded like a great time for a field trip - not that I didn't have many other things that needed my attention today, but hey, it's not every day you get to meet the president's wife and daughter! Little did we know the journey we were about to take. We arrived and got in line - just to get in the store. This entailed a very detailed bag search by very large Secret Service agents and walking through the metal detector (a funny note - all of my kids beeped and I didn't!!). Then, to go any further, we had to buy the book ("Read All About It" here) before getting our wrist bands to get into another line! Well, that line topped any Disney line of weaving back and forth that I have ever been in! Does this picture give you any idea??

We mapped that store back and forth several times over, before, after being there for a total of 3 hours, we came to our turn. The kids did what they love to do best anyway while we waited:

and we played some games, talked to people in line and talked to some of the Secret Service agents. Once we got there, we were told that we were not allowed to take posed pictures due to the time and the number of people still in line, but I snapped a quick shot of them, just to have evidence! They truly seemed as sweet and humble as you have seen them appear to be.

Jenna wanted to know the kids ages and names and what grade they were in and Mrs. Bush commented that we had a beautiful family. It was an exciting (and tiring!) day. We decided that we got in lots of school too!

Here is a pic of the kids with our signed book:

All in all, it was a wonderful experience!