Bar Harbor FIELD TRIP!

We only had a week to recover from Inter-Island event before it was time to head off island for our two day field trip to Bar Harbor with the rest of the island schools! This was the first time we have every taken a field trip as a big group of schools and it was SO exciting! It was so awesome for the kids to know that at the end of Inter-Island Event they did not have to wait an entire year to see each other again... they only had to wait a week!

Can I just say off island field trips got a whole lot easier this year with only two kids...

So Monday night after school we said goodbye to Monhegan and headed inshore. We got to stay with our favorite island fellow, Anne, at her sweet little house in Rockland. I wish I had picture to show the pizza and DQ blizzards we consumed Monday night at her place while watching a movie. It was so fun.

Tuesday morning we left Rockland and took the two hour scenic drive to Bar Harbor. It is pretty awesome that the entire Monhegan School and our gear fits into my little green Ford Focus. We had a picnic lunch at the nice park in Bar Harbor and met up with the rest of the gang.

We had a change of plans when our whale watch we were so excited to go on was canceled so we took a drive up Cadillac Mountain to kill some time and it was just gorgeous.

The kids enjoyed the view as well!

Diver Ed... the highlight of the trip for the kids (and I have to admit... I loved it too!)

The guy on the left is Diver Ed. He takes groups out on his boat in Frenchman's Bay for what he calls "Dive-In Theatre." It is the most entertaining educational experience you will find on the coast of Maine. Above he is showing up how to put on lifejackets using his amazing dog a model!

Obviously any person who has dogs like this on their boat is going to be pretty popular with our school.

We loved those dogs.

Gorgeous view of Acadia.

So once we get out in the bay Diver Ed. dives off the boat with his underwater video camera and we get to watch on the big screen TV they have on the boat as Diver Ed. explores the ocean floor beneath us !

Then when he comes up from the bottom of the ocean he brings a bunch of specimens for us to look at, and touch, and if we are so inclined... kiss! He is all about kissing sea creatures!

Super spiky sea urchin!

Someone looks a little crabby!

Quinny and a gianormous sea cucumber!

A six legged sea star!

After our awesome adventure with Diver Ed we headed to the Abbe Museum which was beautiful but did not allow pictures! We ended the evening at the Neighborhood House were we ate a delicious dinner and relaxed for the evening.

And by relaxed I mean... played poker.

Daltini passed out the cards and explained the rules. We had a lot of newbies to poker playing with us.

Including this guy! However, he may have pulled a fast one on us because he cleaned house that night!

Trying to disguise his poker face!

After a good night's rest we were ready for day two! We began our activities for the day by splitting up into groups to do some work around the common book all of our schools are reading called "Touch Blue" by Cynthia Lord. (P.S. The book is fabulous and based on what was done on Frenchboro years ago when their one-room school house was looking like it was going to have to close because of low enrollment!... Sound familiar?)

I worked with the older kids... which of course was a lot of fun.

Our first venture of the day was to the Oceanarium. We got to visit a lobster hatchery which was pretty awesome since I have never seen baby lobsters before.

All those tanks were filled with little baby lobsters swimming all around. The were SO small... like the size of my finger nail!

Also we had a talk from a local lobsterman who one would probably consider an "Old Salt."

We saw a blue lobster!

And then we were lucky enough to go on Diver Ed's boat one last time!

And this time he was funnier than ever!

He let the kids literally push him off the back of the boat. Does this guys know how to entertain kids or what!?

When he brought up all the sea creatures from the bottom of the ocean the kids went nuts!

We do love our lobsters!

and Sea Cucumbers!

And crabs!

This is one of my favorite little guys from Islesford. He was having a blast.

Lots of snuggling to keep us warm on the boat.

Our field trip ended with a trip to the Whale Museum...(another super cool place) and an early night back at the Neighborhood House. It was official that it was one of the best field trips of all times because we got to be with the other schools. We can't wait to do it again soon!