Thursday! Day of exploration

It was hard to wake up and pack to leave Thursday.  We liked our new home and we are still exhausted!  But we get on the road saying goodbye to Father Jerry, Sam, and all the wonderful staff of the mission/school.

We then traveled down to Itasca State Park.  Again,  the kids wondered how this could be fun.  But with Lexi leading the way we hiked down to the lake.  Itasca lake is the source of the great Mississippi River.  You are literally able to walk across the great Mississippi River at the very beginning of it 2,556 mile wind down the United Stats's.  Some of us were more graceful than other climbing over the rocks and wading the water but we had amazing photos!  Another cool part was having Lexi, our senior who is the only one to return with us for this trip, see the start of the river because she will be at the end in fall when she goes down to New Orleans for college!!

We hiked a few hours and ate a packed lunch and back on the road!


It took alittle longer due to traffic and new streets to get to the mall but we arrived around 6 and explored the Mall of America.  Some went shopping and some went on the roller coasters.  After that we had our "last meal".  We reflected on the week, had some fun, sang happy birthday to Ms waldron,, and enjoyed each other's company.


Again another night we are exhausted but what a great feeling that is!

As I write this (by the way it's been Ms Deady!). I'm broken off from the group and they are still fast asleep at our beautiful hotel.  They will wake up and leave around 8:30 and will update their parents on the time of arrival back to chicago. Pray they don't hit traffic!

I am blessed to have  another year of a trip where I feel like the impact we had was positive. A trip where kids grew individually and as a group.

Thank you for trusting us with your kids!  It was blast!

Wednesday night- farm and fun

one thing that was cool about the Red Lake St Mary's Mission School is that there are families that work there.  Principle/gym teacher are married,  kindergarten/3rd grader teachers are mother daughters, and the 6th grader/1st grade teacher are married.  The 6th and 1st grade teacher offered to have us on their farm to see the chicks and pigs!  These animals were so cute and we held them and fed them.  Then we went for a walk around his large farm which gave some of us a chance to ask questions about living on a country farm.  While looking out for ticks we toured his orchards and learned about deer hunting.  We are so thankful for these teachers allowing us to come onto their farm.  They have a 3rd grade daughter and she was VERY surprised to see 12 kids from chicago walking around after school.

After our final St Mary's dinner (pot roast! By the way the food they make for us in the mission is the best home cooked food!). We tried to see some bears but no luck. Some of us were tired and others wanted to play cards but we were forced back to the school...........

Sam, our babysitter, shuts down the school, turns all the lights out, and teaches us the game zombie.  There are no photos from this 1. Because you need to hide from the zombies and the phone light will give you away and 2. Because everyone was too busy trying to win.    We lost all 3 rounds by Sams dedication to the game made it some of the most fun we have ever had!  Late to bed and not so early to rise the next day......

Wednesday-last day at school

I always think a sign of a good trip is no time to blog.  Or the other reason I'm late is because we had limited internet in Red Lake.

Wednesday

We knew waking up it would be our last day with our kids.  They were going to the movie Thursday and so we set out to say goodbye.  Below are pictures of groups of kids with their kids.  Ask everyone about a student they connected with.  We each have at least one that will forever be in our  hearts.  The day was full of fun and goodbyes, but the happy kind of goodbye.  The type that you know what happened on the trip, the connections, the love, the positivity was not over.