nimbus fish hatchery

For a person who isn't all that into kids, chaperoning a kindergarten field trip was about the very last thing on my list of things to do - but at least it didn't involve glitter. The whole process of getting "approved" to drive on this field trip involved background checks, fingerprinting, and driving records. I certainly appreciate the due diligence, but it was a bit of a pain in the ass. Little Miss J somehow thought Jamberry nail wraps were my fingerprints and so when she saw I put them on she immediately shouted, "Yay! Now you can go on the field trip!" And so I did.

The fish hatchery was actually pretty cool. We saw a salmon come in from the river and make its way up the salmon ladder (my only other exposure to a salmon ladder was American Ninja Warrior). Then we walked down a path and saw the salmon splashing in the river as they made their way upstream. And the kids got to feed the fry (baby salmon)! The kinders were spared the harvesting of the eggs, which was probably the right choice.

We started off inside where the ranger told us about the life cycle of the chinook salmon. Then the kids got to try on cosutmes that represent the different stages. Little Miss J was the egg. The kid who originally volunteered to be the egg changed his mind because he "wanted to be the daddy." Hopefully, we can disabuse of him of that notion when he's a teenager. 

After the indoor part, the ranger took us on a little walk to see the salmon ladder and then down a path to see the fish swimming in the river. Much like myself, the ranger may have been overwhelmed by 20 kinders. At one point, while the kids (mine being no exception) were jockeying for the first position in the line she told them that "it doesn't matter who is in front." Clearly, she is not a parent - so observed one of the chaperoning dads.

The last thing we did was feed the fry. There were several cement pools of bazillions of baby salmon. When the kids threw the food in, they would all splash on the surface. The hatchery is also open to the public and you can go feed the fish for 25 cents a pop.

 Despite me being absolutely chilled to the bone, to the point where I am just now finally warming up, Little Miss J was thrilled to have me with her on the field trip and the fish hatchery was way cooler than I anticipated. I'm not much of a nature, circle of life kind of girl. But see how happy she is? Yes, that's the crazy eyed, I'm so happy Umma came on the field trip look.

We ate our bag lunch on the picnic benches and then headed back to school! Four more parent hours in the books ... 17 more to go!

lunchtime selfie