TD and I both took a vacation day today to chaperone Anna on her field trip to the zoo. After choosing not to go on her Kindergarten zoo field trip and being the only parent not to go, yes out of four kindergarten classes Anna was the only kid that had to stay at the school after the field trip. They let her stay in the teacher's lounge and have a pop from the off limits teacher only pop machine. After that "Most Horrible Parent" moment I will never again miss a field trip.

Anna didn't know that her step dad was coming with me. She thought it was going to be just us.

I was telling her that when TD and I drop her off we will run and get the lunchables. She said, "What?! He is going with us?!!" (crying started) "I wanted it to be just us."

"I am going to be the only one with a dad there."

All these years I have carried this feeling of dread/guilt that Anna would feel left out when the other kids were making Fathers Day cards and she wasn't. Before I married they would make them in Sunday School, Pre-School, and Day Care and she would give them to me and I would tell her how beautiful they were. Today she acted just like any kid would that has had a dad their whole life. I didn't know what to do with my guilt. LOL

By the way, she perked right up when she remembered her step dad is friends with the guy who runs the primates.

Updated:
We had a great time at the zoo! It was very cold but we were able to see all the animals being fed breakfast, it was pretty cool. TD wasn't the only dad on the field trip either. Another dad was there too. I thought I was pretty lucky to have a husband that would want to help chaperone a bunch of first graders and spend time with me and his stepdaughter. I really love him.