Marin Tender Tracks Tues.Dec. 8, 2015 Day 23

Waning Moon
Sorich Ranch Park

Ione is on holiday and Alara returned from her great trip to Mexico.  The sky was gray with that warmth that comes before the rain does.  The ground was still wet so rain gear on the legs was appropriate and very useful throughout the day.  We got news that this will be Xanders last week and for all of us that is a sad story yet happy for his new adventures soon to come.
Sorich was the perfect place for us to adventure because this was the day that we were hammering out lanterns for next week. Cans were filled with ice in order to make the can solid while the children hammered holes all around so that when, the candles that they make next week are put in, they will shine, shine, shine out like the Stars from shining through the dark dark nights.   All of them had a very good time doing this. They were partnered up and helping one another hold each others can while they hammered.  Rhett really loved this and just hammered, hammered away. Xander was in FULL swing and just LOVED this!!!! Ariel really had fun with the hard hammering. Talay was focused and devout, Alara, focused until her hands got too cold.  Velia did a few holes and then received help and support from Michelle.  Aaron got help from Xander and me. Layton had a lot of fun yet it was not as easy as she would have liked. Rhett really liked helping her.
Alara found some beautiful rocks with blue in them so I suggested she hammer some of them down to powder for paint. She tried but it didn;t really work so Xander and I came over to try. It really didn’t work! However Xander LOVED hammering hard on the rocks with this hammer and did so for quite a while.  All the children loved climbing up and down the big rock there. When the ice came out in big chunks from their cans they had throwing fun with it at the big rock while Layton and Alara saranaded them with beautiful songs.
Ariel and Velia got into a Bad Witch game on a limb of a tree that they could bounch on and Alara came over for a bit.  The other children were on the big rock playing family and Aaron was the Mouse King!  Tummies rumbled early on so by 11:30 we all got together and had a beautiful lunch. I told another story that was inspired by their exuberant yelling.  Michelle and I sense that the holiday frenzie that is simply in the air seemed to be running through them as over the past couple of weeks the children have been much louder then usual and filled with screams and great excitation.
So, they screamed and screamed and then, they listened and listened to the birds and then story.
Then great play and then, a grand exploration new and unknown terrritories!!!
I always wanted to go down the trail where I have seen so many people go. So, off we went after being well fed  and well watered.  “Where are we going?” Xander kept asking. “We don’t know” I said. And on we went until, fate as it was, landed us right in front of a huge slippey sliddey hill and that is where the rest of the day took place.  The fun of going up and down this big hill, using the Eucalyptus bark that had fallen to the ground as “seatbelts”, being a choo choo train, rolling, falling, tumbling, laughing, getting very muddy, boots falling off in odd ways, Aaron creating a baracade and….. all took place and such joy was had, any tensions released and fun abounded.
I have been looking for a good slippey sliddey in Marin since I left such great ones in Palo Alto. This day brought great joy to my heart for this find!
On the way back they found and ate some small sorrel plants/like sour grass, and skipped with happiness all the way back.
Alara had moments of very much missing Mom and wanting to be home yet found large fun in a lot of different places throughout the day.  Layton was just strong in body and filled with happiness throughout the day. Rhett was easeful, delighted and happy, happy playing and including everyone.  Velia was stalwort with getting up and down the hill and over and under a variety of different climbing adventures we encountered.  Talay was in HEAVEN, gathering lot’s of Eucalyptus branches for something she wanted to make for Christmas.  Ariel was just delighted with going up and down the hill and playing with her friends.  Aaron had a blast making a baracade as well as being Mouse King and playing with Rhett. Xander wasn’t sure about sliding down the hill and then, down he came, twice and he said he had FUN!
Michelle and I, well, we were just as enthused and energized by the beauty of the day as the children1