What a trip it has been so far and it is only Tuesday! Yesterday we didn’t get much service in since we were getting our tour of Children’s Hospital Colorado and our volunteer orientation. Our group is taking turns being split up between craft parties (available to patients and their siblings) and Creative Play (available only to siblings of patients.) Each day we have some exploration time built in as well.
Today started off much like yesterday, we woke up, got ready, ate breakfast, packed our lunches, and then headed out for the hospital. Unlike yesterday though, our car got lost on the way. We turned onto the wrong highway at one point which added another 20 minutes onto our drive because the highway we got onto was packed with traffic but it’s okay because we got there! Serving in creative play today was such a treat because there were so many little ones. My favorite (if I had to pick one) was a 9 month old sibling who decided to take a nap for most of the morning. Creative Play involves us just playing with the kids and letting them express themselves and paying attention to them. This is so important to these kids because often times they have a sick sibling who gets most of the attention so they love just having us to play with them and give them attention.
Today’s exploration was the Denver Zoo and seeing the Colorado State Capitol building. I have grown up with the St. Louis Zoo and the Denver Zoo was so much fun but visiting different zoos definitely makes me appreciate our wonderful STL Zoo that much more. It is hard to pick a favorite exhibit for me. After the Zoo we went to the Capitol building, we only got to drive by and take pictures but that was good enough for me! It was really funny because I wanted to take a Polaroid of the building as we drove by, thinking we were going to make a left turn but our adviser, Chris, pointed out that it was a one way so we could only turn right so I took my photo while we were at the red light. As soon as the light turned green, Chris proceeded to turn left (the wrong way) anyway! Oh boy that was funny, I am just really glad the other drivers were also paying attention because sometimes Denver drivers are scary. We hit every red light possible on the way back to our housing site, a HUGE church but we made it safely.
Once we arrived at the church, we made dinner. Tonight was tacos (yesterday we had Italian food and tomorrow we will have Chinese food.) I enjoy helping cook dinner because it gives me something to do and those that cook usually end up eating first (yay!) Every evening…. well the past 3.. we have come upstairs to watch the sunset over the mountains and it does not get much better than that. We also have been bonding over Uno and Apples to Apples.
It is only the end of our 2nd full day but so much has happened that I wish I could go on about it forever! I will include some photos below, both group and scenery. I hope you enjoy and keep up to date on our service!
-Love From Aurora and Go Bears,
Catie
Group pictures from Red Rocks (Monday) and Denver Zoo (Tuesday)
Gorgeous scenery from Red Rocks on Monday and the Sunset from our housing site on Tuesday. You definitely don’t get scenery like this in the Midwest and if the air wasn’t as thin here, I would never leave.