My baby girl's field trip with her class and our field trip to the mall. One was more fun than the other....

I'm not even sure if I mentioned the fact that last Tuesday at the literal crack of dawn, I dropped Sarah off at school for the 7th grade field trip.

According the Peter, the 7th grade field trip was the most fun of all the field trips.  Here's a quick list of what Sarah and her class did over 3 days:

After departing school at 6:00 AM, and a quick stop for breakfast, they arrived at A Walk in the Woods in Gatlinburg, TN at 11:00.  They took a guided nature/historical hike and had lunch on the trail.  Then they headed to WonderWorks which is a hands-on museum of science and natural phenomenon in Pigeon Forge.

After exploring that museum for several hours, they headed to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then spent the night sleeping under the sharks at Ripley's Aquarium.  They also got ot dissect a shark, watch a dive show and do a scavenger hunt around the museum.  So cool!

On Wednesday moring they had breakfast at Ripley's and a morning program at the museum.  Then they head to Dollywood for the rest of the day.  It was here that Sarah and her group of non-riding friends spent the day laughing, talking, riding baby rides and enjoying hanging out together. 

After a day at Dollywood, they checked into a hotel where  they could shower and get ready for dinner which they had at a pizze shop and then they headed to the Comedy Barn for a show!  Sarah said it was really funny.

The next morning they packed up and headed to Sun Dog Adventures on the Virginia Creeper Trail and spent the day riding down the 17 mile trail with a stop for lunch at a cafe along the trail.  And then finally, they arrived back to school at 8:30 PM.

Needless to say, every child was bone tired at school the next day but no worries, I think the teachers took it easy on them.  However, Sarah did have a lot of homework this weekend which she luckily was able to finish on Saturday so that we could spend the entire afternoon shopping for a dress for the dance.

Y'all!  That 'bout killed us. We headed back to the mall to search for a dress that had no cut-outs, no spaghetti straps, no bare shoulders (but sleeveless is okay), no bling, and not too short.

Let me just tell you what there aren't a lot of for 12 and 13 year old girls.  Sarah can't wear anyting from the girls section any longer.  And she wouldn't want to any way.  Big bows and frills are no longer cool with the 13-year-old set.

Everything in the juniors department had cut-outs, or spaghetti straps, or bare shoulders.  Everything!  Well, everything that Sarah thought was cute anyway.

We exhausted all the possibilities at the mall and headed to Steinmart, but not first without a desperate stop at Chico's and the Loft.  Y'all.  In case you were wondering, nothing at those two stores worked!  HA!  I told you we were desperate.

Anyway, I knew Steinmart had a fairly large dress department and I was hoping and praying (mostly praying) that there would be a couple of dresses she might deem acceptable.

And finally, and mostly out of desperation, we found one that she loved.  It was a little black dress, and even though she had previously said she wanted something that wasn't plain, she was excited about this one.

It had little cap sleeves, a high waist (which we discovered looks good on her after trying on a lot of lower waisted dresses which made her look fat - which SHE IS NOT!), a little bit of flair in the skirt and a sweet v-neckline.

It was simple but it was perfect!  Whew.  Big sigh of relief and a huge THANK YOU JESUS!

Then we found her the perfect sandals with just enough heels to make her feel fancy but still low enough that she can dance and more importantly, walk!

And we tried to find just the right necklace but we were both so exhausted and couldn't find the right thing that she agreed to look at my jewelry when we got home.  I have a necklace and a pair of earrings that met her approval so she is dance ready!

Again - THANK YOU JESUS!  And a small shout out to Starbucks.  After our devastating and very tiring trip to the mall, I could tell she was fading fast.  So I swung through the Starbucks drive through and treated my tired girl to a small Iced Caramel Macchiato.  She had never had one before and she loved it.  The small (or tall if you insist on the silly way Starbucks does their sizes) was perfect for her.  The surprise treat and the burst of caffeine did the trick!

And now it's Monday and it's track party after school and then Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and the days until summer vacation march steadily on!

Have a great week everyone!