Day 7 - A Day at the Zoo :)

Hello All!

Day 7 started off with another rainy morning.  Really....the weather just hasn't been awesome so far this trip but we haven't let it bring us down.....well....tried.

Today was a special day because we got a special tour from Kathy at the Chahinkapa Zoo!!  We were all excited to get down and explore!



Kathy met up with us and she started off our tour.  She showed us a lot of fun animals throughout the park. Our first stop was the tigers.  I LOVE that the tiger's name is 'Hobbes'....FABULOUS.  Our next stop was the otters...another big winner with the students.  We also got to see the bears being trained.  The students really enjoyed that :)  Another zookeeper took over for Kathy and led us around some more.  The students learned a lot about many of the animals in the zoo.  They now know that zebras may look like horses but they are nothing like them.  They also learned that male kangaroos are very possessive of their mates. We had fun at the petting zoo and learned a lot about ponies, chickens, and goats.  It was a very enjoyable and educational morning.





 


The students also got to meet Tal the Orangutan.  Tal is a very smart and special Orangutan.  The students got to see Tal train AND got one of his paintings to bring back to Kong!!!  We were SO surprised that Kathy gave us one of his paintings.  We are truly honored by her kindness.  She and the whole Chahinkapa staff were so awesome! 





 

 



Auntie Debbie came with for the zoo tour and of course saying goodbye was hard for her and the students.  She got a hug from almost everyone....one student still held off.  (Maybe next time Debbie) 

With Tal's painting

saying goodbye to Auntie Debbie

To top off their awesomeness, Kathy gave us 20 free rides on the carousel.  Well....none of the students even knew what a carousel was so we of course HAD to go and ride it.  The gentleman there was very kind and let the students ride twice :)  What a sweetheart he was.



Off to Mumushka's we go!  The students rode pretty silently down to Sauk Rapids to my mom's house.  Mom and Boris were kind enough to host a lunch for the kids and they even asked the students what they wanted for lunch.  So of course....we had salmon!  It was delicious!  Mom also surprised me with a birthday party.  The students all got presents as well, curtsey of Mumushka.  They loved them.  Then to top that off, they also got to hit a pinata!  The boys had a few 'issues' setting up the pinata but eventually they got a few hits in.  I got to take the final swing....to help hurry up the process.

CANDY!

After a delicious late lunch we headed out to Duluth.  Again, another two hour drive that was pretty silent.  I have found that a road trip and country music puts them out pretty quickly :)



We arrived at Duluth and there was a lot of OOOHHHS and AAAHHHS driving down the hill.  We're staying at the Edgewater with the water park so unpacking the car and checking in happened in record time so that they could enjoy the water park.  They got about 20 min of going down the water slides but they really enjoyed every minute.  Lots of squeals and 'watch this!'



After the water park closed they switched to the outdoor pool...a favorite of the group.  They were there for a little bit but I was frozen out after a half hour so we corralled them upstairs to get settled in and ready for the next day.



Tomorrow is the aquarium, Lake Superior tour and train ride...lots to look forward to. 

Another positive day full of new experiences and awesome people in the books :)