the zone of six year olds

We went on a field trip with our first grade class. It was awesome and exhausting and everything else you can imagine it might be. We went to the Conservatory of Flowers. Specifically, The Butterfly Zone. One of our year long studies is butterflies and boy, have we learned a ton about them! I was a bit obsessed with butterflies and their seemingly magical powers long before this opportunity came along, but now....well, I'll never look back.

The Butterfly Zone is this intensely heated, humid room that has butterflies flying all around you. One, I swear to god, landed on my nose. Of course, I couldn't yelp for any of the kids to look at me because I would scare it off....which, I did anyway... but, no matter, we thrilled at every wing flutter and every near miss of a landing, whether it was on us or another student there exploring.

We ate lunch outside and then made our way over to the flower garden where there are ...um...i don't know how many...but, A LOT of different varieties of Dahlias.
It's one of my favorite parts of that area of Golden Gate Park. Strangely, it's in the middle of a road, so you really have to watch yourself (and 15 6-year-olds) when enjoying the beauty. I must say, I'm amazed even one of these flower photos came out what with battling the intense sun beating down on us and the screaming madness of lots and lots of kids!




On our way out of the park, we were trailing along (though we were all totally wiped out, none of us really wanted to head back to school...) and there was a sprinkler watering the grass. Standing back and resisting the urge to jump in it, we saw a rainbow. A really beautiful rainbow.


Sometimes, I feel really, really lucky to be blessed with the wonderment of a kid. And to have a job where I hang out with six year olds who believe in the same things I do: pots-of-gold and leprechauns and fairies, well, I'd be hard pressed to find better company.