A Venomous Field Trip!

     The 3rd grade went on a field trip to the Thai Red Cross Snake Farm today, well just our 2 classes. The other classes went last week. It was awesome that both Benny and Dan's classes went on the same day so Ben took the day off and we BOTH chaperoned. Ben went with Benny's class and I went with Dan's.

      The worst part of the trip was the bus ride. I'm sure most of you have been on a bus with screaming kids before. Now add in horrible rush hour Bangkok traffic. Get my drift? At least I got to sit with a fellow mom and chat on the way. It took about an hour to get to the snake farm even though it was about 20 miles away, because of the traffic.

  
  The best part of the trip, of course, was seeing the snakes. Seeing is enough for me. The kids sat up in some stadium type seating and I stood at the bottom near the presentation. Maybe not such a good choice for me but I did get a closer look at some of the snakes, perhaps closer than I really wanted. I can't believe how close I actually was. They walked right by us moms with the first King Cobra and my friend nearly ripped my arm off she was so scared. I am still laughing about that one and am sure to have a few bruises pop up later. So funny and frightening at the same time.

This guy was so close to being struck several times. He has clearly done this before!

     The last snake they brought out was a Burmese Python and EVERYONE got to hold it and take pictures with it. Benny didn't want to but it didn't take much to convince Danny to go.

Danny with his two good friends, and the snake.

     After the snake show we got to explore the serpentarium (which had AC) and try to answer the questions in the packets they were given by their teachers. This part mainly consisted of the parents finding the answers and telling them to the kids. I tried to have them do most of the work but we were being rushed to see the next show so I gave in. The last show was all about milking the snakes for their venom. It was a fairly short show but it took a while because the commentator would relay the info first in English and then again in Thai. After this, it was back on the bus (joy) for lunch and to head back to school. I really enjoyed it and am glad that Ben got to go too. I think it made it more special for the twins too to each have a parent there, no one was left out.