Tender Tracks Wed. Day 23

March 8, 2019
Lake Lagunitas
New Moon

Another fun and beautiful day with your children! We thought the weather was just going to be cloudy but indeed it showered on and off and then at about 11:45 rained for a bit.

We were highly efficient today as we got the children to the lakes, out of the bus, with their buckets in hand for circle, to circle and then, we began to set up the fire.

Some of the children loved to come straight to circle, not ever our focus.  Some of the children love to go straight to play and explore. So there they were, all sitting on their buckets ready to be in circle when Nathan said, “Can we go play?”  And the answer was “Of course!” 🙂

So off went Nathan, Beau, Rohin and Ellery.  They had their buckets in hand to go to the creek.  I guided them to a spot where they could play safely.  The water was still swift and the rocks quite slippery so, there was a little “beach” area where they could stand and play safely and, they did.  I went back to set up the fire and Sienna, Nelly, Addie and Gideon stayed to watch it being set up while Ruby set up all the cooking that we were about to do: corn tortillas, grating cheese and getting the beans in the pot.

I had just finished getting the Tinder Bundle/nest ready to then put the small sticks around it when Beau casually came up with a frown and sad face. He said that he lost his bucket, it went down the creek. I ran down and then all those children down there ran with me as we explored down the creek. It then dawned on me that the bucket probably sunk close by so, back we went and, what did we see??? The bucket under the water and stuck up against a log. Well, off went my rain boots and socks, rolled up my rain pants, took off my rain skirt and into the water I went. SUCCESS!  The bucket was saved.  They played for a bit and then, Beau came back with ” I lost my bucket!”  Oh dear!  down I went again and there was the bucket, right where they were playing upside down and too hard for his little hands to get it.  I came just in time because it WAS about to on an adventure down the creek. I grabbed it and all was well yet again.  Time to take the buckets up for circle and snack it seemed and so, we did.

We all ate such a delicious snack. While Ruby was cooking I told them a story about Spring being just around the corner and later in the day we went searching for spring.  When circle was done off they went again to play and explore.

They spread out and had a grand time, as always, playing in the woods and then we gathered them up to “find spring!”  As we adventured that is exactly what happened. We found small buds, larger buds, almost flowering buds, on a big tree! Then we walked towards Bon Tempe Lake and there they found a great big puddle!!!!  No further did we need to go.  To get across was challenging for some as it was deep. I found a board and A BRIDGE WAS MADE!  They went across that many, many times. Beau was a “worker” and organized how the crossing all took place. Ellery fell in the water a bit and was ever so sad. Later, to help Ellery a bit, Ruby wound up getting her very involved in the Earth and how it talks. Almost all the other children came over and they were all so involved in the joy, curiosity and discovery of Earth and how it shares with us its many wonders and mysteries as Ruby guided them with stories and joy.

Gideon discovered spring in the little Doug Fir bushes near us and all came over to see that.  It was then close to lunch time but, changing clothes party seemed a great need and the rains were beginning to come down so, two by two children went with Ruby to change while I took the children under cover to eat lunch and listen to a story I read.  After all the eating and changing we went back into the warm bus. I read one more fun and fine story, we sang our good bye song, the children gave glorious thank you’s and off we went.

Their day was so full and the weather was enough to tucker four of them so much that, Ruby played the Kalimba the whole way back and, as said, four of them went fast asleep while the others were in total silence until we got back.