This year we did a little something different for Callie’s birthday.
Most years, she gets a fairly big present but this year we wanted to give her an experience and an amazing memory–especially since she was turning 13.
We decided to take her to The Preserve, an elephant sanctuary, just outside of Fredericksburg.
As part of the experience, she got to get up close with three elephants, Rosie, Becky, and Kitty. We got to help give them a bath, gave them lots of hugs and snuggles, learned a lot about them, and got to give them a little pedicure!
Callie has always LOVED animals so she was in her element. She was asking the caretakers a ton of questions and even had “Happy Birthday” sang to her while one of the elephants played the harmonica!
It truly was an amazing experience. It’s one thing to see them in a book or catch a far away glimpse of them at the zoo–but to stand next to them, see how graceful and majestic they are, and look into their sweet eyes…..it’s just an experience we won’t forget. It’s an extremely trying time for elephants in the wild and their mission to expand elephant education, knowledge and conservation just touched each of us.
We made sure to get a souvenir before we left–a one of a kind Christmas ornament painted by Rosie. It will proudly hang on our tree this year–a memory of a new friendship and a once in a lifetime connection.
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