I Wish To Go...

see Ursus Maritimus in their natural habitat...

and to see the northern lights...

Now, how cool would that be?

Steven has been generously granted a wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

After much thinking about many different possibilities for a wish, his final choice was a trip up north.

So, sometime next November, we are going to embark upon a trip to northern Canada, to the city of Churchill in Manitoba on the Hudson Bay, to see the polar bears in their natural habitat.

We will be traveling in tundra buggy, a large vehicle with huge tires, kind of like a monster truck, that is specially equipped to go out on the tundra where the polar bears live. Hopefully it will be quite an adventure.

A nearby school, Solana Santa Fe Elementary, has "adopted" Steven and the students at the school are raising funds to help pay for Steven's trip.

Steven and two 5th-grade girls who put up a lemonade stand to raise money

Last Wednesday, they invited us to come and visit their school so the students could meet Steven.

Steven holding a frozen fish in the 5th grade class

It was Ocean Week there, and every classroom was doing different activities related to learning about the ocean.

Steven got to check out the third grade crayfish experiments

Steven was invited to the different classrooms to see their experiments and to meet the students.

Steven was interviewed for their school TV station, the Coyote Broadcasting Company

Everyone was so nice, it was a humbling experience. The sixth graders studied the Arctic in anticipation of his trip, and are putting together a book for him about interesting Arctic facts.

As we were leaving, Steven was asking if he could go to that school. They promised to invite us back in a few weeks.

We are so grateful to Make-A-Wish and Solana Santa Fe School.

We can't wait...

- Kathleen