Palo Alto Tender Tracks Tues. March 11, 2014 Day 47

Waxing Gibbous Moon
Coyote Pt. Beach

Today we celebrated Julians birthday with all but two of his family members and a family friend from Germany.  He wanted to go the beach that Mischa went to last year.  We are all so glad that he chose this place.  Even though the Gun Range near this place was VERY busy for the first hour or so we were able to see/hear past that and enjoy ourselves. Cole though said he was happy when there were no more shots sounding off.  I fully agree!  Also there was a fleet of bicycle Police officers in the midst of a three day training for awhile.  A lot going on for the beginning of our day.
When we got there the children all filed out of the bus and went right to the beach where, the tide was high yet there still was sand, rocks and treasures to be found.  After bathroom time, breathing out time, ” When are we going to eat” resounded and to circle we went.
At circle we sang our songs, counted our stick, watched the wind, heard the traditional Birthday story, Julian received his gift and then, he gave us all a wonderful snack that his Mother made and gifts for one and all.  What a beautiful circle.  Then, OFF TO PLAY AND EXPLORE!!!!
There were little huddled groups digging in the sand and finding so many beautiful different kinds of stones and sea glass.  Finn found so many heart stones and all day he looked for them.
I was really wanting to find some crabs like we had done last time over by the rocks to the North of where we were.  After awhile Zac wanted to go. I was going to just go with him but we asked others and all came accept Zara, Eden and Serena.  They needed to use the bathroom and decided to stay with Jill and the rest of Julians family where all our belongings were. The rest of us, including Julians big brother, went down the beach, to the slimmy, sea weed covered and very slippery rocks to find Crabs.  We found lot’s of jumping creatures and other crawling friends under the rock and only two dead crabs.  They all just wanted to keep exploring further and further and further down the beach, over the rocks, climbing up the rocks, slipping on the rocks until, we got to a dead end and they climbed up the hill.  Then they started throwing rocks off the cliff down to the water and telling me how many times they could skip them.  They didn’t want to go back but alas, I felt we had been gone a long time from the group. I suggested we run down the path to get to the others and invite them to come back.  So, off they all ran. Zac, Ridham and I were behind them all. We found Sour grass, Plantain and Chickweed to eat.  All yummy: Eat your Better Bitters everyday and you will be healthy and well.
When we got back it seemed that it was actually lunch time so they stayed there and began to eat.
From there we spent the rest of the day:
Playing in the water and getting very wet and happily alive.  Cole began this journey, Zac followed, then Julian, then Zara and Eden, then Ridham and finally Finn took off his shoes to fill his bucket of water regularly.  Serena did not want to get wet and she sat cozy with me as we dug a great big hole in the sand trying to find water.  She did not think we would find water and, she was right. Julian’s big brother began digging and then someone got a bucket of water and put it in the hole. From there one by one the whole group came by to dig the hole bigger and put water in to see if there was any way to fill this hole up without the water seeping away.  “GET THE WATER” they all called out as one or the other ran to the waters edge to get water.   Zac dug a different hole and was trying to fill that and Finn was contentedly filling up the hole he dug with his bucket of water.   There was great team effort here.
But, the question was, “Why doesn’t the water just stay filled up in this hole?”  I asked. Well, some said, “the sand is thirsty.” ” Oh, but where does it go?” “In the ground.”  ” Oh, and how far does it go?”  and on and on  the questions and answers came as I pushed them further and further into curiosity.
What was really fun to see was when we got there the tide was up very high and there was hardly any beach.  Half way through the day we noticed that there was TWICE as much BEACH!!! How can the tide go out that fast????
At days end most of the children needed to be changed so, CHANGING PARTY!!!  and packing up and off we went with many thank you’s for the wonderful Birthday  day.