Fun at the Zoo

It was a beautiful, sunny day so we packed up all of our gear and headed to the zoo. The zoo here has gorgeous landscape and amazing animals. Like our zoo at home, they’ve done a lot to build up the exhibits to resemble the animals’ natural habitats. Also like our zoo at home, Gracie’s favorite spot was… the carousel. She rode 5 consecutive times! Gracie also enjoyed all of the beautiful waterfalls. We saw many animals in the 4 hours we were there and I don’t think we even saw a third of the zoo. My students will be happy to know that we saw both monkeys and penguins!
Grandpa arrived today. After we left the zoo, we met him at the hotel for a short rest and then we went out for dinner. We tried one of the local favorites, toasted ravioli. We also hear the gooey butter cake is something we must try while we’re here. We headed back to the hotel for an early night since we are supposed to be at the hospital at 8:00 in the morning. Tomorrow we will go to meet with the doctor, have a pre-surgery physical therapy session, meet with a Child Life Specialist, and walk through the area where Gracie will be. Tomorrow they will also let us know what time we need to report for surgery on Tuesday.
I am sitting in the lobby writing this entry because that’s where the wireless connection can be enabled. A mother just walked by with her child who obviously has CP. She looked to be the same age as Gracie. It is oddly comforting to see another family going through a similar experience. I suppose we might even see her at the hospital this week.
Thank you all for your phone calls, cards, emails, comments, and especially your prayers.