Sunday, July 24, 2011

So, I fed a Polar Bear last weekend.


I had the coolest Birthday surprise a few weeks ago for my golden birthday...

"Congratilations to our Lake Superior Zoo's chapter of the AAZK for hosting it's first behind-the-scenes tour a a fundraiser.

The tour was a birthday surprise for Olympic cross country skier Caitlin Compton's husband Brian and his twin brother Chad. Several family members also attended the tour and are now big fans of Berlin. Caitlin and Brian want to revisit the zoo in winter and help AAZK plan a children's cross country skiing event to benefit Polar Bears International"

The behind the scenes tour with Berlin, the bear, begins before the zoo opens to the public. This alone is awesome because most all of the animals are most active in the early morning. The Polar Bear is my favorite animal and we were able to get up close and watch her get fed and work with her trainer Marcie. Additionally we were able to go inside her habitat and set up her daily enrichment. We decorated a big plastic ice berg as a birthday cake with peanut butter, sunflower seeds, mackerel, hamburger and your standard polar chow.

Thank you Caitlin for setting up this once in a lifetime experience. It has been a hot week here in the Midwest. Berlin is not the only one thinking of snow and colder days to come.

Staying Cool at the Boys and Girls Club.
The slip and slide was taken to a whole new level this year.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Having Fun and Getting Strong

Over the past few years we have added some new exercises to our strength training routines. Some of these exercises are pretty cool and pretty fun. I decided to share some of the exercises with the kids at the LCO Boys and Girls Club

The old LCO Boys and Girls Club has been converted in to a mix martial arts training center. Nothing fancy, but everything is there that you might need to work out hard. These giant ropes are great simulations to double pole.

Monster Tire Lift... same motion as a dead lift

Wheel-barrow racing. It is important to make exercise fun, especially at a younger age.

How many of you can do a handstand push up?

The kids thought it was even cooler to do a handstand push up without hands. Luckily Santi was there to help hold the kids up.