Miss Alayna Goes to Washingt- ...er, Lansing

Check out the inside of Alayna's desk at school.  Not surprised at all.

Hey gang.  How's May treating you so far?

I got a day off today, which was rad.  I love days off.  Getting paid to not work isn't something I'm ready to start complaining about.  Alas, my day off still involved dealing with dozens of children in a managerial role, so I shouldn't really call it a day off, I suppose:  I swapped wrangling a bunch of 8th graders with wrangling a bunch of 4th graders, on a field trip to the State Capitol and the Michigan History Center in Lansing.

They had arranged for charter buses to take the three 4th grade classrooms on the 2-hour trip, and we set off shortly after school started in the morning.  The bus itself was fine - like any other charter bus from the 1990s - but spending 2 hours in a confined area, surrounded by fifty-some 9-year-olds, is just. . . well, it's just as shitty as you'd expect.

Check it out. . .

Gettin' on the bus (that's Alayna and her friend Jazmine - there were so many chaperones going on this trip that I was only responsible for these two. . . which was totally fine with me.)

Pumped for the bus.

Jazmine sat in front of us.  Alayna brought her camera and took several pictures throughout the day, of which I included a few and will note them as they pop up (though I probably don't need to.)

Skip ahead two hours or so, we arrived in Lansing to find the entire area around the state capitol under construction.  Totally awesome.  Our bus took about three victory laps around the structure in a desperate attempt to find accessible parking.

Ready to be off the damn bus.

The Cannonball and the Capitol.

Mrs. VanHoey's 4th grade class (Alayna is in the middle row, at far left, right next to her teacher.)

Goofy picture time.

Alayna took this bizarro selfie.  I assume in the girls bathroom.

She asked a friend of hers to take this group pic with her camera.  This is in the Capitol's. . . basement, I think?  Back, ground-level entrance?  I don't know.

A quick shot of the Rotunda, as we waited along with our tour guide in one of the wings.

Tons of kids and adults, bored as f***.

No, she's not stoned.  I don't think.

This may be one of the coolest elevators I've ever seen.

I wish my stairs looked this cool.

Yeah, this happened.

One of the other dads snuck upstairs to snag a pic of the 4th graders, below, staring up at the dome.  Gotta compliment initiative.

Alayna's shot of the dome.

Decorative doorknobs in the governor's office.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

The governor's office (roped off, alas, as the governor was in Germany at the time.)

Somewhat swankier than my Study.

Some random glass door.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Another door knob.  Guess who snapped this gem?

Some pretty intricate lighting in this place, I'll say that. . .

If this isn't the most horrifyingly ominous thing I've ever seen, I don't know what is. . .

. . . nevermind.

Alayna's friends, Makarra and Christina.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Alayna and Gerald.

Spooky lighting.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

The State House of Representatives.  This was the only chamber we got to take pictures in,  for when we went to the State Senate, they were actually in session.  We were admitted, got to check out the voting process on various state matters (for about twenty minutes), but couldn't take any pictures.  At one point, our state representative down on the floor (forget the dude's name, sue me) announced our presence in the balcony, and the entire Senate applauded our group.  Alayna - and the other kids - were all pretty thrilled and thought it was the coolest thing in the world.  I didn't have the heart to tell any of them that these politicians literally give zero shits about any of them.

Probably safe to say this is the closest this kid is ever going to get to politics.

I forget what this room is.  But it's official looking.

I saw a lot of ceilings like this in Italy - a hell of a lot nicer than the popcorn drip ceiling shit we have going on in our house.

This child is physically unable to make a normal face for the camera.

Outside the Capitol, on the way to the bus and our next stop:  the Michigan History Center.

When you first walk in, there's this weird enclosed courtyard surrounding a solitary White Pine tree (our state tree, I think.)

You can't really tell, but this was under water.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Some homeboys, looking fresh as hell.

A big piece of. . . metal.  I don't know.

This is, like, a two-story entrance to the museum.  We had to wait here for about ten minutes while kids finished going to the bathroom.  I hate kids.

The forced march through the museum's various exhibits begins.  We didn't really get a chance to stop and look at everything, because by this point we were horribly behind schedule.  Kids literally just walked past and had a few seconds to look at stuff before being prodded forward.

Scopin' out some wigwams.

Yes, I took pictures of swords.  This is patterned after a French Hussar model, and I knew that without looking at the information placard.  In your face.

A Canon and Cannonball.  This schtick never gets old.

More swords.  Civil War-era, folks.

Some pretty unique handguns, again Civil War-era.

Alayna asked her friend to take this picture with her camera.  Kids are weird.

I'd make fun of this dude's hat, but I'm afraid he'd kick my ass.

We stopped for, like, ten minutes so that the kids could watch his educational, museum-quality (pfft) video on mining in the U.P.  It was just as edge-of-your-seat as you could guess.

The Upper Peninsula's mining history.

Alayna was pretty proud of the fact that she was one out of only two students in her class who could walk underneath this giant axle without ducking over in the slightest.  That's her mom's genes, there.

Time for a lesson in ye old school house. . .

Personally, on a day off away from my own classroom, I don't want to be anywhere near this sort of crap.

Into the 20th century neck of the woods.  The walking pathway through the museum's various exhibits reflected different time era's from Michigan's past.  I probably should have pointed that out sooner.  Oh well.

Making Model T's on the assembly line, courtesy of Nazi supporter Henry Ford.

Old school movie theater ticket booth.  Kinda wish they had these at the NGC Midland Cinema.

I bet this thing was a bitch to drive through the snow. . . but it probably handled better than my Focus does.

Photobombed by Christina.

World War Deux

Firefighting with flame throwers.  I think you may be doing it wrong, fellas.

Alayna scopes out a lighthouse. . .  bulb?  

The foreword machine guns of a WW2 bomber, manufactured in Detroit back in the '40s.

Typical Michigangster house, circa 1950s.

Pastels were a big deal back then, I guess.

Continuing on into the 1950s. . .

I'd be more than fine with my dashboard looking like this.

Once we exited through the obligatory Gift Shop (surprise, surprise), we had to wait nearly 20 minutes for the bus to pick us up.  It took everything we exhausted parents had to keep the kids from staging a mutiny.

Alayna was not at all dramatic about the fact that it was starting to rain.

I bought Alayna a few things at the museum gift shop on our way out, including an arrowhead necklace (which I believe she's already lost), and this gem excavating kit.  She's big into this sort of thing.

Not my cup of tea, but whatever.

- Brian