Josey is Gone!

Josey just left for a 5-day field trip. Can you believe that? At 6:30am, in the pouring rain, she climbed onto a bus with about 50 other French children. Their destination? The Alps! They have pen pals in a village roughly 4 hours away, and they are going to spend this week with the pen pals – skiing and snow shoeing and having a great, amazing, unforgettable time.

Max and I sang:

Bye, bye Josey
Bye, bye Josey
Bye, bye Josey
We’ll see you again on Friday

Sidebar: Max, Josey, and I used to sing this song every time Alex left to go to her Papa’s house. Max remembered!

Josey has been looking forward to this trip for months! I am so proud of her. She will be completely immersed in French for 5 full days. Her teacher speaks a little English, but that’s it! Josey is fully aware of that, but she really, really wanted to go.

The rest of her life, she will have the memory of this French field trip in the Alps when she was 9! How cool is that?

On the other hand, this is her first time away from me – besides slumber parties – without either Mike, Grandma Pat, my mom or my dad as caretakers! I’m excited, nervous, sad, and stressed all at the same time. Okay – I’m going to get a huge hug from Mike right now.

I’m back. Mike reminded me that she’ll be okay. As he said, “Don’t worry about Josey. She is tougher than we are.” I feel a little bit better.

I have to tell you, I’m impressed with the organization of the event. The cost was only 180 euros for transportation, lodging in a chalet, food, ski rentals, ski lessons, lift tickets, etc. for 5 days!! Wow! The school hired a professional organization to “host” the field trip. So, they have a chalet that can house the kids (4 children to a room) with chaperones. Every parent received an “inventory” list: clothes, ski gear, toiletries, sun screen, etc. The chaperones verify the inventory when the child arrives and again before they leave.

I’ll give you updates while she is gone. Wish her bon courage et bon voyage!

Love to all!