Jefferson City, Missouri

I know it's been a few days since I've posted.  To be honest, I've been trying to make up for some lost sleep and I've had a lot going on.  And, the getting back lost sleep was all due to a trip I took on Wednesday.

I got to visit the building in that picture.  That is a picture of the Jefferson City capitol building, located in Jefferson City, Missouri.  The place I got to visit with all of the 8th graders from our school.  It's the field trip that the 8th grade class gets to take every year, but I got to go this year because I just happen to have a child that's an 8th grader.

On Wednesday morning, I was up at 3AM.  I had to be in order to be at the school by the required 4:30AM time.  Peanut had decided to spend the night with a friend the night before, because she had participated in a track meet.  So, I was on my own, except for the two kids I picked up on the way so that they'd have a ride.

We arrived at the school, loaded the buses, and was pulling out of the driveway by 5AM.

The drive to Jefferson City is about 4 hours long.  We made a quick stop at McDonald's for breakfast, and when I say quick, I mean quick.  My principal had called ahead to place our order, so the food was waiting for us when we got there.  The kids were fed and back on the bus within 30 minutes.  That has to be some kind of record when it comes to feeding 70 kids.

We made it to the state capital by 9:45.

We spent the entire morning touring the capitol building.  The architecture and art was absolutely stunning.  It's the first state capitol building I've ever been inside, and it was breathtaking seeing the intricate details that are housed inside such a beautiful building.

That last picture shows the "Whispering Gallery". It's the place where visitors can go up in to the dome and even climb higher to walk around the outside.  I passed.  My fear of heights just wouldn't allow it.  I had trouble just watching other people (especially Peanut) go up there.  But she said it was pretty amazing.

After we toured the building, we got to go inside the House and listen to an active session going, which was pretty fascinating.  The room was full of representatives all discussing and talking "Bill business".  Our school got an official introduction by Representative Lant and the Speaker of the House, which was pretty awesome.

I was pretty mesmerized by the way business was conducted.  The whole place was full of fancy desks with laptops and electronic devices sprawled across them.  Representatives sat and chatted, or checked their email, or sent text messages while others stood up and discussed certain bills.  I was trying to make sense of what was going on, but I'll be honest... it was really hard to figure anything out.  I couldn't figure out who the people speaking were talking to, or what they were talking about, or what was happening after they finished speaking.  Despite not understanding a bit of it, I was kinda bummed when we had to leave.  It was still pretty entertaining, even if it didn't mean anything to me.

Once we were done there, it was to a reserved area for a pizza lunch.  The kids ate, and then we went downstairs to walk around the capitol museum.  After that, we took the kids across the street to have a little "recess time".

Once recess time was over, it was the time EVERYONE had been waiting for.  Our trip to Missouri State Penitentiary.  The place is fascinating.  It was open for over 100 years and closed about 10 years ago.  The place is absolutely huge, and I was excited to see all of the history.  Unfortunately, due to the fact that the prison is undergoing some renovations, we were limited to where we could tour.  What we did see, however, was AWESOME.

  

I could have spent a lot more time walking around that place, and I would have LOVED to do a ghost tour at night.  I can't even imagine what type of paranormal activity that place has.

Anyway, our day was over when we were finished at the penitentiary.  It was then time to start the long drive home, with a stop at Applebee's on the way.  We had a fantastic dinner, and then we drove home.  I wish I could say that the rest of the drive was quiet and peaceful, so that I could get some sleep.  But, no such luck.  The girls on the bus thought it would be HILARIOUS to sing, and laugh, and scream all the way home.

We made it back at 11PM, and after delivering children home we pulled in to our driveway at midnight.  It was a LONG day... but worth it.

I was up at 5AM the next morning and went to work like usual.  It was a very tiring day, but I found out that my kids had behaved and everything had been good while I'd been gone.

It's taken me 4 days to finish this blog post.  I'm not sure why.  I could have written it in a day or two but for some reason I just had a hard time sitting down long enough to get it finished.  I really hope I'm not losing my desire to write.  I mean, after 4 years why on earth would that happen?  I don't know.  I'm not sure what's going on, but I've finally finished this post.

Now, I'm going to enjoy this Sunday.