Thomas Home, Safe and Sound

The itinerary predicted them arriving home at 7:30, so off I trotted to be 5 minutes early. (I had images of arriving and seeing Thomas there alone, all the other kids having been picked up earlier by more dutiful parents.) There were a dozen or so other parents waiting and a car or two arrived every few minutes for the next 15 minutes. Finally about 7:45 the bus pulled in and we all jumped out of our cars to meet it at the loading zone near the building. First the bleary-eyed adult chaperones stumbled out, followed by kids, each of whom was schlepping bags and bags of stuff (and several were wearing brand new Chicago t-shirts).
Finally, Thomas stepped out, looking like he hasn't slept in three weeks. I couldn't even make sense of what he was saying at first, he was so exhausted. I got him home, we filled him up with food, got him in the bath and then pajamas and he went right to bed. Learning about the trip was like pulling teeth. Our questions of "What did you do then?" "And then what?" were answered with, "I'm not sure," or "I can't remember." He DID manage to tell us that one highlight of the trip was swimming at the hotel. (Question: "So did yo have a good time?" Answer: "We didn't get to swim enough.") And what about the other kids? Did he have fun with them? ("Russell talks ALL THE TIME." and "I don't think Marshall brushed his teeth ONCE!")