Marin Tender Tracks Tues. June 9, 2015 Day 69

Waning Moon
Sorich Ranch

Hana and Theron were absent today and Michelle’s almost 9 yr old daughter and 6 yr old son joined us.  What a treat that was!
Today was the day to celebrate Thea and Nico’s birthday as well and they were very excited for this.  They are the last birthday celebrants of the group and it was a fine celebration too.
When we got to the ranch the weather was much warmer then expected so instead of our usual  circle place we found a nice spot under a tree with some welcomed shade!
There we had their story and they received the last stones in the birthday bag, both amethyst’s.  They then were VERY delighted to pass out the cupcakes. Velia really wanted to help and they were both very happy to have her join them.
Then it was off to the place they love to go “Nature playground!” to see if the swings were the same or set up differently.
On our walk there we discovered not yet ripe plums and figs and then some rip plums. Please go there within the next week or so and you will have an ABUNDANCE of yummy, yummy plums.
From there we made our way up the dry and winding hot path to joy.
Once there the rest of the day was filled with such beautiful play, exploration, relaxation, creativity and delight.  One of my favorite parts was when Velia and Ariel both wanted to swing on one of the swings and began a bit of a tough time about who would go first.  I brought out the very old and traditional way of solving these things: Icky bicky soda cracker, icky bicky boo, icky bicky soda cracker out goes you…. Each one puts out their fists and the last fist still sticking out gets the first turn.  Well they just loved this and began to use it for the rest of the day.  It was wonderful to watch Enzo take pride in sharing that he and his Father had just come here to do Trail maintenance day.  It was also fun to see him take the swing that you can take down with the carabener and figure out how to put it on another swing so that it would work better.
He and Julian found these great shaped sticks that were good for digging and they spent a good amount of time doing that.   Ariel had a great time taking a “Siesta” on my lap with my hat over her head and Velia LOVED this and wanted to do it too. So, after a while Ariel changed laps to Michelle’s and Velia went on my lap.  Thea found a straw colored Praying Mantis that blended it PERFECTLy with the Oat Straw and we all played with this incredible new friend for awhile. She also found this most intriguing dead snake right when we got there that looked like it was freeze dried in motion.
This was such a sweet and gentle day and a great way to end our last day of the year together. Before we left we made a circle and said our thank you and good byes and then made it down the hill.  We were very hot and sweaty by the time we got to the bus.