Some kids who have had to spend time at Sacramento's Shriners Hospital for Children to get therapy for severe burns or to have difficult orthopedic surgeries got to forget about those things for a while so they could welcome some special guests from Sea World San Diego.
Those guests included a North American Gray Fox, a prickly porcupine, who takes to petting surprisingly well, and a 4-month old kangaroo joey.
11-year-old Damian Garcia is in recovery for surgery on his elbow, and Damian and I share a love for the other animal that stopped in to Shriners: a pair of Magellenic warm-weather Penguins. "I've actually loved penguins since I was like 5," Damian said, "so I'm so excited to actually pet and see a penguin up close."
Damien's mom, Leslie Mancera, added that her family has been to Sea World, but they never had an experience like the one they enjoyed on Thursday. "So to have them here," Mancera said, "and to be able to let them come down and pet them and take pictures with them, it's awesome."
'Awesome', 'wonderful' and 'amazing' are among the words Mancera and the other parents used to describe how well they are treated at Shriners Hospital.
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