PeeWee Field Trip: Car Wash

 This was our field trip to go with Harry the Dirty Dog.  We wanted something basically indoors, and to relate to the book, so we went with the dirty/clean concept and took the kids to the car wash.

 Make that car wash-es.  Lisa and I loaded all four PeeWees into her monster SUV (giving the baby moms a morning off), and took them first to Mr. Car Wash, where you get out of your car and watch it through windows as it gets washed. 

 We talked about the soap, and the scrubbing brushes, and how clean the car was getting.

 The kids all brought their Harry dogs from my last lesson, and the Harrys also watched the washing excitement.

 Then we loaded them back up and drove to another car wash, about 10 minutes away.  Just enough time to watch the Scholastic DVD of Harry the Dirty Dog I'd checked out from the library for this very purpose. 

This car wash was the kind that you drive through, and stay in the car.  We kind of had to go in this order, so they wouldn't be freaked out by the brushes and water and noise at their windows.  Even so, there were some worried looks, but everyone made it through without tears.

 It was a helpful distraction to have them hold up their Harry dogs to watch.

 At this point we pulled into a parking lot to have a snack.  Poppy and I had made cups of "dog food", a homemade snack mix consisting of pretzels, peanuts, raisins, cinnamon marshmallows, M&M's, and Kix cereal.  No one was fazed by us calling it dog food. 

 Our final stop was the pet store.  Harry is a pet so the connection is obvious.  This store didn't have any puppies, but it's just fun to look at animals, so we checked out the cats...

 ...and fish...

 ...lizards, mice, guinea pigs, birds, and even the super stinky ferrets.

 Before leaving for home, Lisa gathered the PeeWees round, and reviewed what we had done and how it connected to Harry.  She also had them all thank the store manager for having us (not that he'd had any choice.)