Tender Tracks Friday Day 20

February 15, 2019
Waning Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Ruby was away today, so that meant that Wendolyn came to play! And what a day it was! We started out at Peri Park to see how big the creek had gotten with all of the recent rain. It was even fuller than before and we spent some time throwing rocks in for big splashes. Once we boarded Juniper Rose, we got another surprise as a big, noisy hailstorm rattled around us.

It was clearing up as we headed to Lake Lagunitas, and Grandfather Sun was shining through the clouds as we arrived. The first exciting thing we noticed was that the spillway from the lake was a big rushing waterfall splashing into the swollen creek. Wendolyn and many Tender Trackers got to hear the rushing water from under the falls, and they didn’t even get wet!

At snack we shared a delicious treat brought by Margot, whose birthday we celebrated. I told the story of all of her adventures (so far!) while we enjoyed the tasty cookies. Afterwards, we were all excited to play in the puddles and creeks left by the rain. We used our buckets to splash water, make magical stew, and even to sit on.

Another set of stairs up to the top of the spillway had been dug from under the mud of previous storms, so we headed up to see the fullness of the lake. Charlie and Wendolyn carried a long stick all the way up the stairs to the top of the spillway. All of us were so excited to see how full and fast the spillway was, and to drop some fir cones and sticks in to see how quickly they traveled. Siena and Margot spent a lot of time finding small branches to drop over the side (and then squealing with delight as the water whisked them away!) Miles found a big branch to drop on the lake side and then ran to watch it come out the spillway side. More children joined in for the drop, splash, run, swish!

There were also exciting things happening near the edge of the lake. Charlie and Rohan found some crawdad claws and the children all wondered where the rest of the body was. We had many guesses and ideas: Did an animal eat it? Could it have been a bird or otter?

The bench area overlooking the lake was bathed in sunshine and Rohan exclaimed, “This is so beautiful, we need to eat lunch here so we can look out at the lake.” So that’s exactly what we did! There was a small short shower of sprinkles during lunch, and we had our eyes scanning the sky for a rainbow, but didn’t see one. After lunch we played eye spy while Violet, Margot and Siena climbed on the big rock and bench, Miles and Blake dug in the rocks, and Rohan and Charlie explored the lakeside.

On our way back to Juniper Rose the children ran through all of the puddles and carried long sticks, alone or with help. We even pretended to be on a boat and used our sticks as rudders and oars. We shared our gratitude for big splashing spillway water, sticks, friends, and playing. Then we were off and traveling, and we sang “Dirt Made My Lunch” on our trip to join families and friends in the sunshine.