Tender Tracks Thurs. Day 60

May 10, 2018
Waning Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Devin was absent and today was Owen’s last day.

Though there are only 8 days left of school Owen has a need to move on sooner than that. So, we had a goodbye circle and story for Owen with a little gift for him to remember his Tender Tracks time and friends.  He was picked up midday so we stayed in our area and played in the creek and the places where the Newts live and roam.

Watching the children continue to DELIGHT in exploring and playing with these friends is so wonderful.  Their curiosity and joy have not diminished from an entire year of this kind of play.

Puma and Avaline went down the creek to their Fairy house place after circle while the others stayed with Ruby near the waterfall.  I went with Puma and Avaline. There they were gently playing with throwing rocks into the water and seeing, with laughter and fun, what happened each time the rocks went SPLASH!  After a while, the other three, Owen, Austen and Vita, came down to join us.  There they all, with great care, threw rocks, went back and forth over the water and then finally, it was time for Owen to go as his Mom came to pick him up. Goodbyes were had and away went our friend to explore new adventures!

The children played just a bit longer and then it was time for lunch. We went back to our Sunny spot, ate, shared stories and then got ready to explore up above. Were there any turtles due to the Sunny day we wondered?  Well, we went to go see. We found no turtles but instead, we found one Momma duck and her 5 little ducklings.  Avaline was beside herself with “THEY ARE SOOOOO CUTE!!!”  She said this was her first time with seeing little ducklings.  All of them went up and down and back and forth to the path under the spillway where they could see the ducklings better.  They were learning about how Momma and babies get a bit nervous with our faster energies and they began to go slower in hopes of getting closer.

There were more wild edibles there too to be had and eaten.  Climbing up their favorite hill took place as well.  We stayed in that area for the rest of the day as the explorations, and mainly spending time with the Ducks, drew us in for a very long time until it was time to go back to the bus.

In the bus we had a fun time with goodbyes and thank you’s and then off we went followed by more stories and songs all the way home.