Marin Tender Tracks Tues. Sept. 30, 2014 Day 7

Waxing Moon
Phoenix Lake

Our Indian Summer seems to be here. Rains on and off the first two weeks of school and now, HEAT!  Phoenix lake, or rather the creek before you take the walk to the lake, had water in it and the children had a GRAND time in it. But, let me go back to the beginning of the day and take you from there to the rest of the day.
Everyone is truly coming in with grace and ease and it is so very, very fun.   Thea and Jai had a bit of trouble last week and, thanks to you Mom’s, they were fine today.  Thea warmed him in first thing and the rest of the day, as far as I know, no trouble was expressed or seen.  Lisa was here again for her last day with us and it was so fun to have her.  Having been a preschool teacher for 20 years she brought in fun songs to sing on the bus.  Last week she even shared how to sing Twinkle Twinkle little star in sign language!!!   When we got to the parking lot there were people waiting in line to park!!!  When I re checked this place out the day before I did not see this nor did I think there would be trouble. So, Lisa took the children to where we were going to set up, right near by, and I waited about three minutes before a parking spot opened up.  Once all of us were there the children ran to explore the hollowed out trees, the creek, the logs to walk over the creek, the mysteries on the other side of the bridge that we could not go over due to a sign and the like.  Circle finally came but Theron, Jai and Julian were WAY too happy in the tree above us so they stayed there until one by one, their interests got peaked by our circle and they all finally joined us.
We had new Oct. songs introduced while still singing some of our older ones, a new story that some knew: A House with No Doors, No Windows,and a Star inside.  We then cut open an apple, as part of the story and, THERE WAS A STAR!!!  Every apple we cut open had a star!
They seemed to like this snack of apples and walnuts very much and ate more then ever.  I am learning what they like to eat.  It is amazing how each year every group of children is truly different.   And oh yes, instead of offering corn meal to the directions with our first song that we always sing, we offered Lavendar flowers. Later they were able, though few took part, in pulling off the little lavendar flowers from a wreath that is getting old and ready for just this sort of transformation.
After circle they played in the water, figured out how to truly cross the log bridge and Thea and Nico were the leaders of getting fully wet in the creek with JOY!!!  Truly they just loved going in the water and going under the bridge.  The first half of the day Theron and Ariel were delighted to be playing by themselves further down the creek.  Velia and Hana were trying to get the lavendar leaves off the wreath, and Jai, Enzo, and Julian were playing in the water at another spot up the creek.  After a while Enzo, Jai and Julian became cats that were “stuck” underneath the picnic table.  There was a huge Cat screetching happening which I then rerouted into a chase ( with most of the children) which THEN ended them up underneath the picnic table.  They were WILD!! cats.  I showed them how cats REALLY stalk their prey and how they must be ever so quiet otherwise their prey will RUNNNNNN away! So quietly they were on all fours with their bottoms up and wagging and their heads down ready for the POUNCE!!!
Lunch happened, wet bodies happened, then packing up for an adventure took place.  We went through the cool forest and found the most beautiful leaves that were falling to the ground.  They gathered and gathered and then we came to a wonderful spot to explore and stayed there until the end of the day.
The joy of throwing rocks came about so there was much loving guidance on how to throw rocks and still have everyone go home exactly the way they came!!  They all cooperated so very, very well on this and were quite mindful of one another. However, Julian tried throwing rocks over his head and one little rock bonked  Velia’s head. Fortunately it was not so bad yet it warrented me sharing a story about how I hit my head on a rock and what happened after that. They were all wrapped up in the tale and Velia moved through her bruised heart over this and her head seemed to find it’s ease.   We also, Lisa and I, began to show them different ways to make stone tools from rocks. She made music makers and I made stone knives.   The boys in particular liked the knife part.
When it was time for us to return we discovered a short cut and that was exciting and fun then, off we went towards home.