Kyrie's field trip

Her entire school went to the Dworshak dam and fish hatchery today. Derk was able to take the day off from school work, so we took Asher and Cambria and tagged along. Her school is very small, so it only took 3 buses to transport everyone. The dam is located about an hour and a half away, so Kyrie got to ride the bus with her classmates and had a blast. Derk and I followed in the van with the kids and got to talk and have a fun time ourselves.

We started the day at the Visitor's Center where the kids ate sack lunches consisting of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, fruit snacks and water (provided by the school). The patio where we ate overlooked the dam, and the kids had a hard time eating there lunch because there was so much to see and tons of room to run around. It was quite a bit warmer there than it is at home, so it was very nice to be able to be outside for a long period of time without a jacket. Makes me even more antsy for spring to finally, well, spring! Kyrie got to sit with her favorite pal, Clara, and they were just too cute to watch holding hands and giggling.

They loaded back up on the bus after that and went to the fish hatchery next. We got a tour from a really nice guy named Joe. I had no idea that there was that much that goes into a fish hatchery and dam. He was very knowledgeable and answered the kids' endless questions and really kept their interest (which we all know is no easy task with 20 Kindergarteners!).

First he took us to the pools where the fish self-feed. It was mainly steelhead trout, but there were some salmon as well. The fish were jumping out of the water quite a bit, and the kids all got a kick out of that. Even Cambria was really into it, which surprised me. Then he walked us past the water ladder that they use for the fish to get into the pools, and the kids got to see a very large trout. I'm talking at least 5 feet long. Pretty amazing that they can get that big or bigger.

On the way we stopped outside where they had a couple of fish laid out for the kids to touch and examine. The boys in Kyrie's class ALL instinctively started jabbing at the eyeballs. ;) Cambria was very interested but refused to touch it. Asher's reaction was hilarious. He was completely grossed out at first, then you could see him working up the courage to touch it, and then once he did he was back to being totally grossed out again. :) He didn't want to leave the fish, though. He wanted to take it with us and actually tried to pick it up there at the end, despite being so appalled only a few minutes before. I never thought I'd have to tell my son to "put the dead fish down and leave it alone!" :)

The fish hatchery was pretty neat. Joe told us about the spawning process. They had actually just finished spawning for the day, so we didn't get to witness it (I'm actually grateful for that), but it was still very interesting to learn about. Some of the parents got really upset at the thought that they'd actually kill the salmon to spawn, but Joe calmly told them that each female stores 7,000 eggs and that it's very necessary for the survival of the species to spawn. We went into this large room where there were several fish in a pan, waiting for spawning. They were still flopping around a little, and Asher got a little upset at that point and said he wanted them to let the fish go. :(


The next room we went to was where they do the fertilization process of the spawning. A lady came over with a bucket full of thousands of eggs, poured the "milt" (aka sperm) into the bucket, swished it around, and after one minute told us all the eggs were now fertilized. It happens that fast.
After that we went to the nursery. It was a large room full of several very long, rectangular pools where we actually got to see all the very tiny fish hatching. They were twirling around like crazy trying to get out of their eggs. That was pretty interesting to watch.

After that, Joe took us back out front and answered a few more questions. The Kindergarteners were all very well behaved and gave Joe a round of applause after the tour was over. We got there at around 10:30 and left around 1:00. I couldn't believe time went that fast. It was really fun and very informative. It sure wore Kyrie out. She passed out while Derk was reading her their nightly story, A Wrinkle in Time. There's nothing like falling into bed after a busy, fun and exhausting day!