Marin Tender Tracks Thurs. Dec. 3, 2015

Waning Moon
Lake Lagunitas

A rainy, rainy day and a great Birthday Celebration for Ariel. Her Mother and Sister stayed with us until around 11 and Ariel seemed to love that very, very much. It was her request.  So, even though it was cold and windy, Mom and sister joined hung in with us.
Before we got there Michelle and Ariell’s Mom found the tarp I hid so that we could set it up for the day.  After scouting out places and assessing the day, Michelle and I decided to just use the beautiful wooden over hang, and not make a fire.  This turned out to be the best choice due to the adventure that took place later on.
When we got there we set up everything on the picnic tables under the over hang. We then had our circle with songs, the Birthday story, gift to Ariel and she proudly passed out her DELICIOUS snack for everyone.
During the morning there was getting all the rain gear on, going to the bathroom and needing to take off all that rain gear to do  so, Phew!, exploring and finding great hidey spots in the rain and then after the wind came the rains began.  We tidied up our place and then went for an adventure which led us to an incredible spot where there were natural water flows coming down the hill right into the lake.  WHAT FUN THIS TURNED OUT TO BE!!!
There was, seeing if leaves would float down the water, moving the Earth to create different rivers and streams, exploring the water that was going into the Lake and, the final Greatness was when Michelle created a choo choo train on their bottoms down the little stream.  Ione was not so enamored with the weather and kind of stood around for quite awhile but finally, the fun of this brought her in and she was very involved in all the fun after this.  However, by about 11:45 they looked like the cold and rain would soon get to them so, catching that before it really happened, we scampered them back to our shelter where the packs were, ate lunch and then spent about 45 minutes to an hour taking two at a time changing them and getting them cozy in their seats. The rain had stopped so those that were on the outside were quite content. Aaron, Xander and Talay in particular, were completely involved with finding the many Salamanders  that were crawling about. Getting them to change took a bit as they didn’t want to leave this fun.
After we were all inside and settled in we wrapped them up with blankets and I read them a most delightful book for a half an hour. We then made our way home from, what seemed to Michelle and I, to be a very exciting and happy day. They were immersed in the gifts of rain, wind, cold, water, California Newts, Birthday celebrations, good food and freedom to run and play.