CHAPTER 7:
The next day was Grace's 7th birthday, and since her parents knew about their daughter's love for animals, they thought treating her to a trip to the Copenhagen Zoo would be a good way to celebrate. It was the one place Grace was excited about before the trip started. Before they headed over to the zoo with the rest of the group, Alice remembered that she had to pick up Grace's birthday cake at La Glace. So, she took a cab to the bakery. Once the cake was picked up and paid for, she then took another cab to the Copenhagen Zoo to meet up with the others.
Grace was especially excited to see what kind of animal exhibits this zoo had to offer compared to the one she always loved going to back home in Paramus. Alice read in a brochure about a panda enclosure which is something Grace thought would be worth seeing.
"Come on, let's see the pandas," Grace said, running down the path.
"Okay kiddo, slow down," Alice said, following her.
They made it up to the panda enclosure seeing at least three of them walking around outside which greatly excited Grace.
"Look, they're playing in the water," Grace said, pointing to the pandas.
"I see. They're pretty, huh?" Alice said.
"Yeah," Grace said.
Alice continued to observe them while reading the plaque about pandas primarily having a diet of bamboo. They got some good pictures of the Panda's and plenty of other animals. Soon it was time for the next phase of the celebration.
"Are you ready for some birthday cake?" Alice asked.
"Yeah, let's go," Grace said.
They headed over to the zoo's lunch area where the cake was set up on the picnic table. But of course, before the party can officially start, they had to wait for the rest of the group to arrive.
Now that the rest of the group had enough time to look at the different animal enclosures around the zoo, they decided it was time to meet back up for Grace's birthday party. Once they were all present, Alice lit the candles on the cake before the group sang "Happy Birthday" to Grace. Grace blew out her candles and everyone cheered. Alice cut the cake and served it to everyone. Once everyone had some cake, Grace opened all of the birthday cards she was given. She was wondering at first why there were no birthday presents for her, but her parents had to remind her that it'd be difficult taking wrapped presents on a plane, but they promised there'd be some birthday presents waiting for her at home. Though one present Grace hoped for that didn't have to be wrapped was for her to have some pictures of the zoo to show some of her friends when she returned home. Alice and Ken gladly took some pictures of not just Grace's party, but some of the other animal enclosures as well. This way if any of her friends ask her how her summer was, it'd be a perfect topic of discussion.