Groundhog Day Adventure + Art Project

Last week in my after school Young Crafters class, we did a project for Groundhog Day using this project as inspiration.  My younger daughter comes to the class because it is her age group and she loves doing art projects.

After doing the project in class, she came home and did many versions on her own.

She seemed  pretty inspired by the project to the point of now she wanted to actually go see the Groundhog in Pennsylvania on Groundhog Day!  YIKES!    Punxsutawny is about 5 1/2 hours from us so there was no way we would be heading over there.  We did find out though that there’s another Groundhog – Chuck – at the Staten Island Zoo – less than an hour away.  Staten Island it is then!

Saturday morning we got up at 4:45am to get ready to go.   The girls were amazed that it was still dark out as we started our drive.   It was also the first time they were going to see a sunrise!

We got to the zoo at 6:40am – 20 minutes before the ceremony was to start.  It was freeeeezing!!

My daughter was really excited though – she’s such an animal person!

My other daughter on the other hand is stubborn,  wasn’t dressed properly and made ti a point not to let herself have fun.

It was crowded so my little one got a seat up on the hubbs’ shoulders as I stood on a bench.

There was a band playing and local politicians making speeches.   Lots of speeches!  There were even a couple of ENORMOUS groundhogs making their way through the crowd.  (Should have used this for my ENORMOUS theme photo challenge!)

Finally by 7:30 it was time to see what Chuck’s predictions were going to be.  Here he is…

And since he didn’t see his shadow, we will have an early Spring!

As soon as it was announced, we immediately left and headed on over to Perkins for hot coca and some breakfast.  Good thing – I couldn’t feel my toes anymore!

Next year I think watching it on TV will suffice but it is good to know that an art project triggered such an interest.

How was your weekend?