so much happened!

We had a crazy busy thrilling day today!The Ninja Cats headed out to Daly City's Mar Vista stables. They wore coats and boots for a day of horse transportation and worked hard on the farm.They first had to fit their heads with helmets. Quinn was so dedicated to his cowboy hat that he wore it over his helmet all day!They started at the beginning when meeting their mounts for the day: with grooming. They used a rubber brush, followed by a hard brush and finished with a soft brush. Kaia called this treatment the "horse spa."Norabelle used the hard brush to remove the last bits of mud, hair, and dust.Grooming was such hard work that the kids started to complain about their hands growing tired.The farm cat proved more enthralling sometimes than the horses.Time to ride!After circling in the corral for awhile, it was time to take the trail. The kids realized what hard work it is to use horses for transportation. It took an hour of practice before they hit the trail.Off on the trail - the Mar Vista stables have a view of the beach on the western side and that's where they headed.Nicky's horse, Hersey, was the most determined about stopping for snacks on the side of the trail. Nicky kept saying, "This is your last snack ticket, Hersey!"After the ride, the Cats visited a new baby horse that was only a week old! They reported that she was a friendly horse, but the mamma was very protective.They learned and practiced the safe way to feed a horse. It was hard for everyone to keep a hand out long enough to help the horse eat a snack and they kept jumping back when the horse's big mouth moved closer to their tiny fingers.The Undead Goats drove out to Davis to visit the Bicycle Hall of Fame.There, they learned about different kinds of bikes......amazing races......and about the vast array of incredible characters that make up the competitive bicycling world.The Flying Fish explored eggs today, focusing on making close observations with all senses and asking good questions based on those observations. They cracked open unfertilized eggs from the grocery store to identify the different parts of the egg and used magnifying glasses, ramekins, and knives.They drew pictures of what they had seen and labeled the parts: shell, membrane (or skin), albumen (or egg white), chalaeze (for holding the egg in place), yolk, and some blastodiscs in the eggs that had been fertilized.They started an experiment with the eggs: using vinegar to dissolve the shell so they can see the membrane of the egg.While they were candling the eggs to see which ones were duds and which have the possibility of hatching, the Fish discovered that one was beginning to hatch. The excitement was electrifying! Mackenzie held the egg up to everyone's ear so they could hear the peeping going on inside from the chick.This egg-hatching event has led to an impromptu sleepover at the school for some of the kids (with their brave accompanying parents) to wait for the baby chicks to peck their way out of their eggs - probably sometime around 3am. Watch the live streaming video here - updates to follow!