Palo Alto Tender Tracks Wed., Nov. 28,

Full Moon
Hidden Villa, back side
Day 12

Mindy had to stay home today yet sent along Catalina, her Nanny.  What a treat it was to have her here on this day as she is very good with the children and very playful, kind,generous and capable.  Thank you Catalina!   The day began with ran waving in and out  so I decided to risk it and go to Foothill Park instead of being inside at Coyote Pt. Museum.
When we got to our place we immediately went to see if the wonderful Trees really did keep the water out so that we could be in a dry place. Well, it was much drier under the trees however with any kind of downpour, not so much.
At first the children had Lot’s of fun jumping in the puddles.  Davey was really the instigator of this.  All day he had NO trouble being in the water, rain, wet,and  floods over his head.  Harper was second behind him.  She just loved running all around in the puddles and the rain. Then came Duncan.  The rest, well, they would play in and out of the rain but when it poured, well, they were I would say, a bit stunned!  We were trying to eat but the rain finally just poured into their lunches and most didn’t eat much.  I did give them snack so that probably tied them over.  Zara loved the snack  had lot’s in her mouth. I was hoping that this would tied her over for the day.  Most ate some but it was a challenge.
Catalina and I had serveral shifts with going to the bathroom and these took awhile because we wound up taking three at a time and there were a lot of clothes to take down, or off before they could actually go!!
On the way to the bathroom there were wonderful mushrooms that were found and we fully explored them. And, right next to them was, ANOTHER WONDERFUL PUDDLE!!!   We heard some wonderful frogs singing their beautiful songs and looked and looked for rainbows but didn’t see any until right at the end of the day.  I actually think I was the only one who saw it though.
After getting fully soaked we brought them to the Ranger’s station where they could take off some wet clothes and see all the Stuffed animals that were “Once upon a time real” but now they are just stuffed like their stuffies.
When we had our fill of all these fascinating animals they sat down on the cozy couches there and I told them a story about Gnomes and stones and trees.  I had a couple Gnomes and beautiful polished stones that they played with for awhile after the story.
And oh yes, before we entered the building there was water pouring down from different spots of the roof and Duncan had a GRAND time standing under this and feeling the weight of the water on his head.  Davey was right there too as well as Harper.  Most of the rest of them played here with delight as well as with the shoe scrapper.  They just needed a change of scenary I think from where we had just came from because they were all in good form a this point.  I joined them as well for a bit and then, we went in.
The rain finally cleared a bit and they were somewhat dry so all but Julian and Misha went out and they played games with Catalina.  I took Julian back to the bus to change his clothes and get him warmer and Misha and he played together.   Then we gathered all the VERY  WET Rain clothes and coats and got them all in the bus.  Then they were wrapped up in blankets and Catalina read them some stories on the way home and sang some songs.
Some of the children gave thanks for the great rain and others just said that they didn’t like it so much.  Julian, Juliet, and Misha were the most struck by the intense rain and I saw them at times just stopped from movement as their young beings experienced/processed/ discovered this fascinating thing called, DOWN POUR!