P.J. Hoffmaster State Park continued further

(Continued from yesterday...)     At the bottom of the hill I noticed the first group of boys were already halfway back up the hill. IS was lying amongst several large groups of beach grass, laughing. The entire left side of JM’s face was covered in sand. OC proudly came up to me and pointed out the blood on his shirt from his bloody nose as well as the sand stuck in his teeth. All in all, it was an exciting activity.

     After the DNR woman rounded us up and led us back to the learning center, we had a few minutes to explore the learning museum. Half of the class immediately ran over to the exhibit of the enormous beetle, made of cast iron, almost 24 inches long.

     As I made my way through the exhibit, I came around the corner to find BB looking through a microscope with his shoes off. Thinking it odd, I quickly approached.

     The exhibit, designed to identify the different types of dune sand, had several premade plastic slides hanging from the exhibit, attached by thin chains.

     As I looked closer, I noticed BB was looking through the microscope at a pile of sand. My heart skipped a beat. “Hey BB, what’s going on?” I nervously asked.

     “I’m looking at sand,” and answered innocently.

     I hesitated, afraid to ask. “Where did the sand come from?”

     “Oh, I had a lot in my shoe.”

     I swallowed hard. “Did the DNR lady say it was OK to look at sand from your shoe?”

     “She said this was for looking at sand.”

     I quickly spotted the woman pointing to a stuffed bird, speaking to a small group of girls. I politely interrupted.

     “Did you say it was OK to look at sand from their shoes?”

     The look on her face answered my question.

     As we were leaving the exhibit, I again apologized profusely to the woman as she was carefully vacuuming the exhibit. “Again, I am so sorry. He really didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

     Without looking at me, and without any expression, she simply said, “Uh-huh.”