Tag Archive for: Tues/Thurs 2016-2017

Tender Tracks Tues. Day 67 Last Regular Day

June 6, 2017
Waxing Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Well, this was our last day together in our regular way. The children came with great excitement and exuberance.  Archer and Isabella brought presents for everyone. Archer brought little stones to give out and Isabella brought stickers. They were both thrilled to give these gifts out to one another.

We had our circle at the Witches Brew spot atop the hill.  There they checked out the Fairy house, the brew pot, the places to play family and then they all  came together to celebrate Archer, Edie and Ruby’s summer time birthdays before the year ended. I had fun working at putting one story together as three and I do believe it worked.  I always find it so delightful when one of them hears a part of the story that is just like their life and shout out something like “that happened to me!!”  In this case Archer was in joy when he heard that the Star child was born and went to go visit his family in Korea.  He exclaimed ” I have family in Korea and we have gone twice!!!!!!”  The beauty and magick of the young child at it’s best!   After the story and being sung to they received their gifts and were happy for that and then, off to our last adventure before our big Thursday party we went.

I had gone over the “Song line”/ landmarks in the bus before we drove up there and they remembered them and which way to go.  It was fun as along the path and throughout the day they were remembering the many different things we did at this place and that place along the path.

We remembered where the snakes were, the rattle snake the small snake and the snake Archer brought and we released.  They remembered where they played in the huge stream that was created from all the rains and how they painted Michelles face with mud there.  Kuba and the rest of the group remembered where he fell and hurt his lip.  He was making sure no one ran there so that they wouldn’t get hurt. They went into some of the trees that they played house in too.  When we got to the Lake area they remembered how they turned into mud babies.  Jake, Archer, Isabella, Edie and Ruby immediately took off their clothes down to their underwear and jumped in the water and made mud for themselves, again.  Jesse and Kuba ran straight to building as they have done so many times before.

The rest of the day was filled with discovering the many sounds that came with different rocks thrown in the water, finding little shells and small bugs.  Watching the Dragon flies and having a large fly visit us at lunch. And, hearing some more stories read to them at lunch time that they love.

Kuba and Jesse found some Crab pinchers and loved those. Ruby wanted one and grabbed it from Jesse. It actually hurt his hand yet Ruby cried and cried for not being able to have the crab claw, or rather as she said “Jesse was being mean.” 🙁

We finally packed up after that and made our way back to the bus.  This is when Archer gave them all his rocks that he had collected from a beach. He was very proud to hand these out.  We buckled up and back to Peri park we went.  And oh yes, today all but Kuba and Jesse decided to see what it was like to sit in different seats.

A beautiful, warm/hot sunny day to reminisce, enjoy and celebrate one another and this glorious place that has brought us into many, many wondrous adventures.

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Tender Tracks Thurs. Day 66

June 1, 2017
Waxing Half Moon
Sorich Ranch

All were here and we were ready to celebrate Isabella’s Birthday.  It was such a treat to have you parents drop the children off where we would be all day and to see you be able to spend a little time playing with them where they actually play.

After the parents left the children played a bit more on and around their Big Rock and then we circled up to celebrate Isabella.   She so loved her birthday story and just laughed and giggled several times during it.  We were all blessed with her grand snack gift of cupcakes to enjoy.

The day before I had heard that there was an Owl’s nest up a trail that we actually have never taken so, off we went to find this delight.  I was given instructions so we did our best to follow the clues all along the trail. As we were going along what did Jesse and Kuba find?  A great long snake very much like the dead snake we found at Roy’s Redwood a couple of weeks ago only this one was NOT dead!
There it was just long and still in the middle of the trail.  We had some good time to see if it’s coloring was like the one we had seen before or to try and conjure up the memory of those colors and shapes.  Someone had tickled it a bit however with a long grass and the snake slithered, rather quickly, over the side of the trail and off through the bushes.  Snakes, they do seem to be a theme here in this group as they have showed up quite a bit.  The year also started out with finding the, fully intact, dead Raven!

Well, after the snake we moved on and went up and up and up looking for more land marks that we had to pay attention for.  We finally found a spot that did have large Eucalyptus trees, a big stick nest up in the tree and a small quarry a bit past it.  We heard Red Tailed hawks on and off and Michelle thought it was more likely to be their nest but, the story given was that it was an Owl’s nest. We never did see any babies of any kind in there though so we still don’t know whose nest it really is.  What we did find was a lot of fun in the quarry and that is where we wound up staying through lunch time and a bit afterwards.

It was GRAND.  The boys found some old Eucalyptus bark that they used for a “lasso” to try and tie us up with.  Isabella and Ruby made a great home under neath parts of the hill.  At first though Jake and Archer tried to climb up the hill but it proved to be very, very difficult. That was when the lasso came in to play actually.  Then the boys gave Michelle a good run for her money as they tried to capture her and she gave them one as she outsmarted them several times.
Throughout the day there were people walking their dogs along the path.  A little darling, energetic Pomeranian dog came bouncing into our camp curious as can be at one point. He wanted to play and play with the children. His owner then whistled for him and OFF he went. This is just what he looked like!!!
Image result for picture of a pomeranian dog  When we were mostly finished with lunch he bounded back to our circle.  He wound up snagging a bit of some of our lunch and then proceeded to appear as if he was chocking!!!  I got very concerned. His owner was calling him. He ran out but then plopped right in the middle of the trail and would not come. Before he ran right to her when she called. No matter what she did this time however he did not want to leave and kept looking back at us.  It was quite sweet and a marvelous addition to the day.

Archer and Jake discovered the trail that led to a path right above our heads. While we were all still sitting in circle finishing lunch they ran up there and, with utter glee, yelled down to us to see them!  They then ran all the way back. We packed up after this fun adventure there in order to get Isabella back in time to go to her Kindergarten interview day.

Down the trail they were given little land marks to find and then wait for the rest of us. They did this very well. When we got back they were to look all around and find the place with shade and go there. And, they did and found the great Oak tree with shade underneath. There they saw a bottle up in the tree and proceeded to all work together to get it out. And, THEY DID!!!!!!!!!  From there the rest of the day was spent throwing their packs up in the tree and then trying to get them down. Several times we tried to go to the swings that they wanted to visit but alas, they were having such an incredible time working together and having LOADS OF FUN!!! They finally actually threw all of their packs up into the elbow of the tree one on top of the other. Truly they were all piled up on each other. It was a mathematical and engineering feat and a gorgeous display of team work.

We spent the last few minutes playing atop the Big rock and then getting picked up.

 

 

 

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Tender Tracks Tues. Day 65

May 30, 2017
Waxing Half Moon
Alpine Lake

Isabella was gone today on a family adventure.

Everyone else was here and in bright spirits.  There were many different stuffed animals “hanging” around in the bus for the children to find.  This is more then just a fun game. The focus of this is to keep giving them things to expand their awareness and observational skills, in a fun way.  They found the many treasures with delight but today there were many more then usual and they actually did not find them all. 🙂

When we got to Alpine lake they knew exactly where to put their packs and then scampered up the big rock.  It was a delight to see Kuba doing the same.  I was remembering when the year began. Jake had discovered trees and wanted to climb them all. However, he still was not so great at observing the safety factors involved. I remember him climbing up this rock on a part with slippy moss and to high of an incline.  He got stuck like a little kitten that had climbed to high in the tree.  Archer was near him at the time and the two of them were quite in a pickle back then.  It was grand to see how skilled and capable they are now, with looking for safety as well as fun too!!!!!! Kuba was always so cautious and now he is mister rough and tumble.  Jesse is more involved with the scrambling up part as well and they all had a grand time of it.

Edie and Ruby had a very fine time together all day.  Usually it is the three some and they often times struggle with that so, it was very nice to see the two of them enjoy each other so much today.

Circle time was very fun.  Michelle shared with the children a story that she just experienced about a walk she took with her children: listening to the birds alarm, following the sound, being very curious about it, discovering a LARGE snake coming down the tree and wondering if the snake had eaten an egg from a nest!!  The children loved the story!
I was inspired and so then I told a story about a man who had a garden with mice and rats, a chicken coup and got a Rat Snake for the garden. It ate the rats AND it ate the fake egg in the chicken coup and the egg got stuck inside the snake. The man had to “milk” the egg out of the snake. It then fed it milk and ever since that day the snake always came to the house to be loved and fed by this man!

We have been visited by many snakes this year, it seems like it has been a theme. So, to have a lot of snake stories seemed just about right!
After circle we got together and made our way to a place that they have loved. It was a nice walk and then when we got there to discover that,  it was different then when we were last there!  There was a lot more plant growth and the water in one spot was VERY deep!  This didn’t matter though. They went right to finding boats to sail and spending time with the beautiful water, all the new plants around us, the many birds, turtles on the log out in the water, stories, launching boats and then the long walk back.

Inside the bus we shared our story of the day and I drew a little picture.  They love sharing and seeing the pictures come up from the story of the day.They shout out with glee about the many adventures and discoveries from the day.

As we drove down the road Archer was getting very upset. He felt like he was left out a lot during the day.  I empathized with him.  The children didn’t really take much time to tend to this so, I stopped the bus, stopped their moving on from tending to him, gave him a moment to be heard and the other children a moment to listen and be with what was going on right there and then.  All was listened to and then, back on the road we went. Greater ease was found and present after that.

Today in the coming and going on the bus we wound up playing many rousing games and versions of 20 questions.

 

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