Day Three--Visits from Gilbert Kiddos

I had previously written about taking my third graders on an overnight field trip.   After I became principal, our sixth graders did the trip for a couple of years.   Then Dottie Dawn started taking her class.  When I was doing the trip, Kartchner Caverns hadn't been opened.  They have added that and the Desert Museum to the trip.  And Kerri did the trip with her fourth graders at the Islands.   Bisbee High had quit letting kids spend the night, so we were able to get Sierra Vista to let them stay at an elementary school for a few years.

My first year in Douglas, they were able to stay at the middle school by our house.  I would have them over for dinner at our house here.   We had hot dogs and bean burros.  One year I did it five times for five different classes.

For two years, the Islands' kids had pen pals from one of the elementary schools here.  We invited each class to meet each other on three different nights.   I have to say that was a lot of beans to cook!!  But it was great to see the kids meet each other.  The Douglas kids waited for the bus in our front yard and then started cheering as soon as they saw it.  It brought tears to my eyes!

Last year, Dottie's class and another fifth grade also did pen pals.  The two classes came down together so we had two classes from Gilbert and two from Douglas for dinner!  That was quite an experience but really fun for the kiddos.  

The Gilbert El kids were the only ones who came this year, so I only had one dinner to fix.   I was able to get tamales for the parents.  This group of students were in kindergarten the year I left Gilbert El so they are the last group of students I know.   It was so awesome to get so many hugs and that they remembered me.  There was also a great group of parents who came along.

I am so happy that we were able to have the Gilbert kids here in Douglas.  And hopefully next year, I can come down and fix bean burros again! 

I think it was the first year that the kids were coming down and we lost our gardener for some reason.  So the grass wasn't looking great and I wanted the yard to look good for the kids to be here.  I called our maintenance supervisor and asked if one of the guys would be willing to come over after hours and take care of the yard.   So he got two guys to come over.  I got home a bit late and they were still here. So I went out to the backyard, and there was my Aunt Teresa sitting on the patio drinking a beer with the guys after they had finished the job!!!!  We always have beer in the garage refrigerator so she offered them a beer and had one with them.  And this was my first year as superintendent!!!!