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Thursday, June 23, 2022: We began our day with spending time with the kids at LifeWise. Hazel and Luke did the read aloud for the kids. It was a very fun time and we were very hyped for Harambee this morning. When we were done with Harambee we went back to the house to make signs for our activities for the cookout tonight. When we were done we began our service. Usually for our service we help out at LifeWise but today we made lunch for the bakers at Bridge Bread. Bridge Bread is a bakery that provides jobs for people experiencing homelessness, which we learned is the preferred way to describe people in this situation. They provide them a job that they get paid for by baking different things like cookies and these things called scones which are really good. It’s a really amazing place because the owner we talked to who’s name is Fred said that it has helped more then half of the workers there get even better jobs and even housing. This is a great place because it gives the bakers work experience that they can put on their resume. This was a great experience because we all were really inspired and moved by the stories Fred told. It was amazing and we all enjoyed it.
After we were done at Bridge Bread we headed to the St. Louis zoo. At the zoo we got Icees, stuffed animals and looked at all the cool animals. We had a blast!
After the zoo we headed back to the house again. We got all of the food and activities ready for the cookout. There were not as many people as we thought but it was still a good time. It’s probably because this is the first week and this is the first cookout after covid. It was still a fun time and the kids were great. We played lots of fun games with them and were able to donate all of the remaining arts/craft and things to LifeWise to use again. It was such a fun experience being here and we are glad we got the opportunity. We are sad to say goodbye to St. Louis. Also, special thanks to Morgan's grandma for the donations of our shirts and Mrs. Zahn’s sister for the new ACE Logo. 
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This morning was the last day staying the convent and we started it very early in the morning in order to make beds and get everything packed and ready in the Van (aka Sissy Chrissy). We were out and driving to the community center by 7 am. Once we got to the community center we had pancakes in one of their conference rooms made by the board members there! The pancakes were great and the board was super nice! We then realized there was a mix up with times and we were an hour early for our activity we had planned, so we headed outside to there playground area and played with some of the child care kids, it was so fun! The made some of us gingerbread cookies out of wood chips, leafs, dirt, and toy corn. We then hung out with some of there autism groups outside! We planned activities for them to do, so first we had, "taste testing" where they had 6 different fruits and veggies that they could try and we had a poster board with each food on it and a smiley face and sad face, and if they liked the fruit they would stamp the smiley face and if they didn't sad face. Then next we planned a, "scavenger hunt" where we had another poster board with objects such as, tree, dirt, ants, flowers, clouds, etc. Once they found the item they has to use the stamp again to document they found it. The last activity was a craft, they were making, "paper flowers". The kids all loved it! After we said goodbye to the group of autism kids the daycare kids came back out and we did the same activities with them as well. They love it too, most of their favorite was the paper flower making. Then we had to leave to make it to a boat we would be going on with some Hills and Dales clients. Some of the clients we met yesterday or from previous outings so it was fun seeing some of the same faces! The boat was called the American Lady and the clients loved it! You could go on two different levels of the boat and they all wanted to be on the top one. The view was amazing. After we spent two hours on the boat we said goodbye to the clients and we are on our way home now. This trip was amazing long eye opening experience for all of us and we had a great time. Wednesday, June 22, 2022: We began our day hanging out with the kids at LifeWise. Many of the students now have some little companions each day. After we played with the kids Brenen, Mya & Morgan did the read aloud for the kids for the day. Then we began Herambee. We all need to start getting more hyped for Herambee. We need to start getting more engaged and getting the other kids to join in. When we finished Herambee we had a slight change in plans. Instead of going to Walmart to shop for food and activities for the cookout tomorrow after our service, we went before our service. We were supposed to clean LifeWise’s vans for our service of the day but they were being used. So instead we helped out in the bodega and picked weeds. Before we did our service we drove to Walmart to pick up the supplies for the cookout tomorrow. There was a slight change though. We drove there in our vans and it was about a 15 minute drive but we had to take public transport back. We walked from Walmart to a train station which took about 15 minutes. Then our train took about 20 minutes before we got off. From there we either had to wait 20 minutes for a bus to take us home or walk a half a mile home. We chose to walk while carrying all of our groceries except for the food. The whole reason we did this is to see what some people go through every day and we reflected on it when we got back. We talked about how some people would have to walk all the way there and back with food in different weather conditions. It was a great learning experience.
When we were done we had some lunch and then we did our service. One group had to scoop some laundry detergent into bags for the bodega. The other group had to split socks from a big pile into groups of three. Those were also for the bodega. After that we went outside and pulled some BIG weeds from the flower beds.
After service we went to the City Museum and had a blast. There was 4 levels of different places you could explore and there was a secret tunnel every time you turned a corner. We went up to the roof and climbed all the way up to the top. Then we finished our day with the rooftop Ferris wheel. It was a great day.  Today we got to work with the team at Hills and Dales for there staff party! We got up around 8 and started the day with waffles, cereal, and fruit! Then got on the road, unlike our other two trips the drive was only 15 minutes long, which was a relieve. We then arrived at Field of Dreams to help them set up for their staff appreciation party. We help step up chairs and tables, games were also set up, such as bag toss. After the clients started to arrive three of us helped serve food. They had pulled pork, watermelon, pasta salad, chips, and water! After food was served they got a fun baseball game going with the clients! We helped them hit the ball and run the bases! It was a really fun and interesting game, There was a lot of homeruns! After the clients game a lot of the staff wanted to play a game, so we did Green Bay vs Hills and Dales staff, sadly we lost, but with practice we will get better!! We then helped packed up food, put down tables and chairs, and take down signs. After we had a super fun time at the staff party we ran to walmart super quickly to get supplies for tomorrow! We then headed to get ice cream! It was super good, a little thick but good! We then got back to the convent and explored throughout the place! We met a lot of cool people and saw a actual nun. Then we got set to make dinner, we had tacos and chips and dip. After a quick batman prayer we ate and now we are heading to an elevator that is taking us sightseeing!
   Today half of us started with grocery shopping, which they almost forgot all the meat we need for the weeks meals, but they didn't! The other half stayed behind and slept in a little longer to write the blog for day 2 of the trip. We ate theses amazing bagels from Big Apple Bagels and we would totally recommend! After we ate super quickly we got on the road! We were original supposed to go a zoo but because of the crazy heat wave, they changed it to a science museum! We got to eat at Hardee's before we got to the museum and it was a lot of our first times eating there! One of us at an unfortunate event with the milkshake that resulted with new shoes and shirt! Then we got into the road and after some talk of coffee we stopped really quickly. One of us tried a Twinky for the first time, they said it was okay but not as sweet as she expected. We loaded up on candy and ate so much candy but well worth it! Our favorite Trollies Strawberries Pops, so good! We arrived at the science museum after an hour of driving and helped them unloaded the clients. There were 19 clients today and some were in wheelchairs and some were not, but there was lots of different functioning levels. Most of us volunteers pushed clients in wheelchairs around the museum. The Science museum was very cool! They had a mammal section that was a lot of the clients favorite, they also had a interactive science section which was also a lot of the clients favorite! Then we had a long hour drive back to our convent, then we got changed into our swimsuit and hit up a little waterpark! It was nice to cool off with a bunch of waterslides! After 2 hours there we headed back to the convent and ate a really good dinner! We ate smiley face french fries, mini corn dogs, dino chicken nuggets, and regular fries! It was so good! And now we are heading to bed to catch some Z's for working a picnic tomorrow! (:
Tuesday, June 21, 2022: We began our day with some breakfast which most of the students picked toast and Fruit Loops. Then we headed to LifeWise to begin our service. First we hung out with the kids and then did our daily cheers and chants. We our getting better at our Harambee even though its only day 2. Due to the hot conditions we did service in the morning. We helped sand down some of the benches and tables before they were stained. Then we got out the hose and some buckets to help water the plants which was really fun. Some of us even got wet. After our service we went back to the house and had our daily sandwiches for lunch. When lunch was finished we stopped back at LifeWise to play Monopoly with a twist. Each player had a set of rules they had to follow. They were all different and reflected different socioeconomic statues. For example player one got to play the game normally with no rules. On the other hand player three had to go to jail every time they rolled a 7 or higher. Now that’s unfortunate rules, but player 4 got to start out with $3,000. We played Monopoly like this today to teach us what its like to be in the shoes of a person not as fortunate as other but also learn about the different parts of the city that do not have as much materials to provide for the community. It was a good learning experience for all of our students today. After we finished at LifeWise we headed back to the house before we went to our fun place for the day. Due to the time we were not able to go to the zoo but we got to go Mini golfing. It was really fun and we were able to get some ice cream after. Then we headed back to cook some dinner. Tonight’s special was spaghetti with a salad. It was a great day and now we’re on too day 4.
We started the morning out bright and early at 6:30 AM and drove 2 hours from Dubuque to Wisconsin Dells. A lot of us slept on the way up there and we also continued the friendship bracelets from Sunday morning. Before we started the 2 hour drive we started at Hills and Dales, we got to see the clients that live there and their apartments and it was very interesting and educational. After we help out there for a while we followed their bus full of clients to circus world museum. Today we worked with clients in wheelchairs, we pushed them around the museum and look at all the cool old wagons and old pictures from when circuses were really popular, when we were outside we ran into a clown who sprayed tattoos on all of the clients, one was a sparkly superman logo, he was super nice! After we left the circus we ate lunch in a nearby park, it was really good! After that we were back on the road to Timbavati WildLife Park were we saw lots of cool animals including a baby kangaroos! We talked and showed the clients around the zoo and kept applying sunscreen because of how hot it was! We even got to feed a giraffe, and some emus too! To end the day then we ate at Pizza Ranch which was SO GOOD. We helped load and get the clients ready for their ride home and we started our 2 hour drive home. We named the car Sissy Chrissy on the ride home and ate taffy. We got in around 10, which we are staying at old convent which is more than interesting, there are 10 crosses here, we counted. Today was super fun and we are excited for tomorrow!    Monday, June 20, 2022: We started our great day off with a delicious breakfast which consisted of toast and fruit. After that we headed to LifeWise to serve breakfast, interact with the kids and do some Harambee. Most of the students found a companion for the morning and we had lots of fun talking and dancing. After that we headed back to the house to go through the schedule and we did a fun simulation. The simulation had us start with a bank balance of $1,000. We had to make hard decisions like to pay for rent or ignore it, put our dog down or cure it and to not go into debt. The main goal of the game is to last 30 days without spending all of your money or losing your job. We learned to make hard decisions and focus on what we needed to buy and what we needed to ignore to not go into debt.   After lunch, we headed back to LifeWise to do some service. We split into 2 groups, 1 group worked in a small food pantry and the other worked in a small thrift shop. The group that worked in the food pantry got to restock shelves, unbox new food and double bagged bags. The group that worked in the thrift shop got to put up new clothes, switch out hangers, restock underwear and socks and roll up trash bags. We learned what its like helping out the community and we got to learn what goes on in LifeWise.
After we finished our service we got the oppurtunity to stop at the St. Louis gateway, The Arch. We got to take an elavator ball that could fit 5 people all the way up to the top of the Arch. We had a great view over the city and when we were done we got to stop at the gift shop. After that we headed back home and everybody was starving!
We ended up having Taco Monday and it was delicious. Props to Hazel, Brody, Luke and Mya who were our chefs for the night. After that we had a slight problem with the sink clogging but Mr. Knight to the rescue. That was are second day in St. Louis. The Service was incredible and we all had so much fun!  Sunday, June 19, 2022: We began our adventure with a 7 hour car ride in Mrs. Zahn’s and Mr. Knight’s rented mini vans. We have not named the glorious red vans yet but that is on the to do list. Mr. Knight had the privilege of taking the students Hazel, Luke, and Morgan, and Mrs. Zahn took Brody, Brenen, Mya, and Elaina. Mr. Knight’s group of students were playing the road trip card game and got to watch the movie “Cars” before our phones were taken away to enjoy social time and bonding together. On the other hand Mrs. Zahn's group of students played the alphabet game and were able to finish before we got out of Kaukana. They jammed out to some hit songs and decided to take some Zzzzs to pass the time. After about 3 hours we stoped at the Love’s gas station to pick up Mr. B. The students grabbed some snacks and drinks to pass us over for the other 4 hours of the ride. Before our full 4 hours began, we stoped to eat some lunch at the rest stop. When we got done eating we played on the playground for about 10 minutes before we left. Then the 4 hour stretch began. The van groups switched up and Mrs. Zahn got to take Brody, Luke, Brenen, and Mr. B. Sorry Mrs. Zahn! Mr. Knight ended up taking Hazel, Morgan, Mya and Elaina. The cars ended up switching activities. Mr. Knight’s car got to take some Zzzzs and chilled and watched another movie. On the other hand Mrs. Zahn’s car jammed out to music the whole time. So 4 hours have passed and we decided to stop and get some Steak and Shake for dinner.   At Steak and Shake the group had to get some of there world class shakes and there burgers. It was a cool place and the food was good.  After we got done eating we passed the Arch and got to our Home Away from Home. We had our first meeting of the trip and decided what we were going to eat and the jobs. We got to unpack and play some UNO while Mr. Knight, Mrs. Zahn, Mya, and Morgan went grocery shopping for the week. It was a good first day and we are excited to see what St. Louis brings us.
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