Last week was intersession week at school, which means it was essentially a week worth of field trips every day. Awesome and fun for the kids; exhausting beyond belief for the teachers.
When we started planning, I heard people talking about going to Skate City and Garden of the Gods and The Pepsi Center and all the museums. I heard one teacher talking about doing her version of
Project Runway. I wanted to offer something a little bit different. I decided on "You Are What You Eat" and got to work planning my week of fun with food.
We were lucky enough to have chefs at
City O' City,
Bones, and
Lala's teach us a little bit about what they do at their restaurants. My group of kids got to make pizza and pot stickers, plus sample gourmet soft serve and salumi with fresh mozzarella and locally pressed olive oil. Sophisticated, no?
We also had a visit from two of the coolest ladies from
Whole Foods. They came to the school to teach us all about how our meals should look (
PS - did you know the USDA turned the food pyramid into a plate?). They also brought along samples of things for us to taste including pizzas with a kale-based sauce. I wouldn't say that the students loved the food, but they all gave it a try.
On Friday we went to
Chipotle, where we mashed our own fresh guacamole. Chipotle then bought us all lunch and sent us happily on our way with two for one coupons on our next visit. We went to
Tattered Cover next door to spend our remaining money, and they gave us 20% off since we were a school group. Our final stop before heading back to school was
The Shoppe. I had promised the kids cupcakes, after all.
I also planned in time each day for walking plus playing outside at one of the city's parks. Tuesday was Civic Center, Wednesday was Cheesman, and Thursday was Wash Park.
Here's where the funny story comes in: I joined one of the teams and played kickball which, as you may have guessed, is not my strong suit. I am simply not an athlete. Never have been. But I figured I could handle a friendly, calorie-burning game with the kids.
We had decided to use a clump of trees as our bases because, honestly, they were laid out in a perfect diamond. I scored one run and gained a little confidence, but I should have known better.
I was playing the outfield somewhere between 2nd and 3rd base, when the ball came straight to me. I, of course, dropped it. But I recovered in time to tag the boy running from 2nd to 3rd.
If only I had any aim.
I threw the ball and I missed.
So then, of course, the boy took off toward home and I just couldn't imagine giving up a run because of my back-to-back errors, so I chased down the ball and then turned to chase down the boy.
Which is when I tripped.
And then I fell.
And then I hit the ground.
Hard.
And let's face it, it was hilariously funny.
And I've been experiencing moderate neck pain ever since. It's getting better, but dang.
And even though I was as tired as I was at the end of last week, it was definitely a satisfied tired. You know, the kind that comes from knowing you did something worthwhile, even though it was really hard? I was so impressed with the kids I got to spend my week with, and even more pleased with the way our local food/restaurant community opened its doors to us. It was a blast and I can't wait to do it again.
