Tender Tracks Wed. Day 3

September 26, 2018
Waning Moon
Lake Laguitas

Oh my your children are simply PRECIOUS! Each one of your children are unique, and delightful with, as one of my teachers beautifully names it, quirky!
The group continues to gell and is doing so well. And with only three days together so far. They are still trying to figure out where the “backpack tree” is, however, yet they run together like a happy little pack of cubs.

When we got to Lake Lagunitas we all ventured down into the creek to see what was there. Learning to navigate across the rocks with little bits of water between them was a bit challenging for Sienna and Adi. In truth, they were quite skilled yet their concern for falling and getting wet inhibited what their bodies were actually capable of. Once they got past that though they were just fine!

Gideon was in seventh heaven walking on these rocks and being down in the creek,though he did trip and fall a little, yet he was not bothered in the least. Nelly wet her pants straight away when we got there so Ruby tended to that while I had a “pee party” time for the rest of them.

The children explored all around the water, the rocks, climbing, discovering and then we all came in for circle. They are right there with the songs, the stories, snack yet dear Rohin has a deep concern over the bugs that remind him of Yellow Jackets and the one Yellow Jacket that took a moment to check us out. So, he sat nestled into Ruby’s lap safe and sound for snack and story.

After circle they all wound up “fishing” at one of the creeklets nearby and, we found an amazing Banana Slug which we fed a bit of an apple from our snack to. How fascinating it was to watch this being eat up and grow big and small as it became comfortable or scared!! We gathered more green Redwood Cones and sat to take in the ease and beauty of time and space.

It was close to lunchtime and tummies were beginning to rumble. We got our packs and made our way up the big steps to the top where the picnic table is, the climbing hill and the many Frogs and Crawdads live. Earlier in the day Nelly found a Crawdad claw and was FASCINATED with it. She spent a long time in deep curiosity about this part of the crawdad.

When the children got to the top of those big stairs they put their packs down and began to explore this place. A place that is now becoming a familiar one. There was a great deal of climbing up and down and up and down the steep hill right there. However, there was so much dust from this that it became time to move on after their eyes were tearing and their discomfort growing. Some didn’t quite put together that if you keep kicking and throwing the dust it will be really unpleasant so, I took the lead, got them down but not before they had so much fun showing us how they slide down the hill and climb back up again. Gideon was a pro, Sienna was having a grand time, Ellory followed her with DELIGHT, Nelly had a blast yet needed a little help getting down, Beau was a pro, Nathan quietly enjoyed and Adi scampered.

Ruby had gone down one side of the platform closer to the frogs and many of the children went down with her to see what they could see. Then most came up and I placed them on the ledge to see the BIG frogs down below. And so it went like this. So much learning about dust, weather, water, frogs, slugs, AND Sienna saw a frog eat a butterfly!!! I actually have never seen that and would have loved to!!! She announced it to us all and WHAT A TREAT! that she got to see this. The Bullfrogs below were in various stages of growth from their large tadpole state. It was glorious to see the different sizes and colorings.

When it came time to go back down Ruby took all the kids in the front and I was with Rohin, Adi and Nathan. They are so small compared to these big steps. Instead of me taking them one by one by the hand they found comfort in sitting on their bottoms and going down one step at a time until they could stand! Great discovery and fun was had with this. Nathan, when done with that, took the lead and freely went down the rest of the steps and to the bus to meet up with the others. Rohin was proud of his accomplishments and Adi, was her usual easy and happy self.

On the ride home, Nelly was in heaven feeding her stuffed animal a dried shelf mushroom that she had gathered. It seems that she LOVES Fungi and notices it everywhere with extreme joy.
Ellory and Beau were so tired and slept on the way back. Nathan looked like he wanted to and was simply efforting to keep his eyes open. Sienna was awake and sitting next to me enjoying the book I was reading as we drove, Ruby was driving back. Rohin and Gideon were having fun playing, lets be asleep. All of them acutally who were awake had fun closing their eyes and imagning what they might dream about and shared that all the way home.