Tuesday, June 8th was the girls’ last day of school so I surprised them with a field trip to a nearby farm that rescues various animals including alpacas, goats, miniature horses and sheep. We started our school year a bit earlier and powered through several school vacations when we were on lockdown since there was nothing else to do! And the girls really wanted as few school days as possible once we arrived in the US in late May. So that’s how they ended school almost a month earlier than their German classmates.

Late last year, when spending time in Portugal and searching for fun things to do, I discovered Airbnb experiences. I love it because we have found some unique experiences with local tour guides. And our trip to a rescue farm in Southern California was just that! Karen from Treasured Time with Animals was so patient with the girls, clearly loves the animals and made sure we all learned a lot about the various animals. We got to feed them, pet them, brush them and take them on walks.

We started with the sheep:

Then we checked out the alpacas. Felix, the white alpaca, can be a bit aggressive, but he took a liking to Hannah right away. And while we were on our walk, Hannah did very well with hers (that can also be cheeky sometimes). So much so that Karen said Hannah should come back as a summer intern soon! Hannah truly is an animal whisperer. And Luisa impressed Karen with her alpaca knowledge (since we had just recently learned about them in Germany).

Then we spent some time with the goats:

And then finally the holy grail: the horses. First we visited the miniature horses and then we took the two large horses on a walk to the corral where the older horse (32 years old!) took a liking to Luisa and snuggled her up. It was so sweet!

We had a really lovely morning and it was the perfect end to our world schooling adventure during a very unpredictable year. I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity to learn and grow with the girls at an age where they are increasingly independent and finding their own paths in the world. What a gift!