Alan and I had the good fortune to accompany Lex and his classmates on a trip to the Vermont State House today. Everyone was so excited for this day, especially Lex! Our local Rep helped organize the event, along with Lex’s teachers, of course. We were welcomed in an active session of the House and got to watch the proceedings for awhile.

We had great seats to watch the House of Representatives at work!

Looking down at the floor.

Then we got a tour of the State House, including the Senate Chambers and various interesting room.

The Senate was empty, so we sat in there and learned about the three branches of government. Review, really, for these kiddos!

A very cool, and huge, painting of the Civil War.

Amazing stained glass ceiling windows that were in small pieces when they were discovered during the restoration of the building. It took a preservation company almost four years, but they restored them to beautiful condition.

After our tour the kids went to work! Their job was to interview as many people as possible (politicians, lobbyists, general population, etc.), ask them a few scripted questions, and record their answers on an iPad.

Since Alan and I were both chaperoning, he went with Lex’s group and I went with another group of kids.  It was neat to see their confidence improve as they approached person after person and did their interviews.

We met Governor Shumlin’s Chief of Staff, Darren Springer.

When the House session took a break we were invited onto the floor to speak directly with the Representatives.

I love how the desks open up in front of each chair. Each Rep has their own place for stuff. I was totally checking out this dude’s desk. :)

Since Lex wasn’t in my group I had to take paparazzi shots of him from afar. :)

When the gavel came down we had to clear out asap!!  Back in the lobby we saw the teacher being interviewed by a news crew!  My group was super excited by this and wanted to hang around and interview the reporters!

No pressure, Mr. Burns! We’re just going to stare at you and take your picture while you’re being interviewed on TV. :)

My group interviewed both reporters, but then the reporter turned the camera around and asked if he could follow our group.  Talk about three very excited girls!

Interviewing Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott with the TV camera rolling!

What a busy and exciting day!  I bet it was a tired bus ride home.  Lex was pretty excited that we let him take the iPad on the bus.  :)

Good bye state house! The kids posed for a final group shot before heading for the bus.

I’m so proud of how well this guy did! He was eager to learn, and eager to participate. He was front and center during the tour, actively listening, and frequently raising his hand to answer questions. Alan said he was even eager to approach strangers and ask them questions! He’s really growing up!

One quick stop at Starbucks and then we head home, with minutes to spare before the kids came home on the bus.  :)  Busy, but excellent, day!

Hey, check it out! They ran a story about this field trip on the local news tonight!  If you watch carefully you can see me at the beginning and Alan at the end.  I kinda feel like we crashed Lex’s field trip. I don’t think he minds though.  He said it was great having Alan with his group and didn’t seem to concerned about not being on TV.

And another one, from a different station!  We’re not in this one though, so it’s not quite as cool.  :)