Tender Tracks Wed. Day 3

Sept. 28, 2016
Waning Crescent Moon
Lake Lagunitas

What a beautiful, beautiful third day. This was the first day without any parents and the first day of being on the new bus. They did really well with all of this!
As I look at the day and ask myself what I think the theme of the day was, one word that comes up immediately was, Unity. I have just posted some photos on our FB page for you to see what I am describing.

There was a lot of hand holding today either in pairs or in the entire group. Jasper was in pure JOY over holding hands with Ruthie, often, and would say to either Linda or I ” See,we are holding hands” with his most sweet, innocent and radiant smile!!! Oliver wanted to hold Avaline’s hand but she wasn’t sure about that until there was a little support? explanation? understanding? about what he wanted or the safety of it from Linda and then, holding hands happened with joy!

We had a beautiful circle and then off to our adventure. This group is very physical, alive and ready for action and adventure so up the stairs we climbed with much gusto to the top. There they found the side of the hill that they climbed on the first day. Puma and Avaline went scampering up the big side of the hill and to the top. Vita needed only a very small amount of help if I recall correctly and Oliver needed a little more. Linda was helping them all up and then, that was it! They were on their way and commenced to go up and down and up and down and up and down and around this hill. They would go to the top, run down the hill at the top which led to the trail back to where the deck was and then do it all over again!! Ruthie and Jasper were more interested in going up and down the first part of the hill as choo choo trains. Jasper would sit behind Ruthie and then they would slllliiiiidddeeee down together. They LOVED!!!! this and did it over and over and over again.
After a while it seemed good to carry on to a place to eat lunch so off we went. They made it to the spot that we went to the first day and settled in.
What mostly happened? They all went down to the waters edge and began to play in, around and near the water together watching the fish, noticing all the bubbles that were coming up and figuring out what this might be. It appeared that this was teeny fish that were making this happen. Oliver went back to putting mud on his head and the other children let him know that they didn’t want it on their heads!! Jasper doesn’t like, so far, to get his hands or body dirty like that and he moved a little away. There were a couple of “pee parties” and checking out the little house that was there before. We discovered Dragon flies and ducks and Light Fairies dancing all upon the waters surface.
At lunch time Oliver discovered that putting all that dirt on his head wasn’t really great because it started to get in his eyes and food. He did not like that so he brushed it all off and that was that for putting all the stuff on his head. At least for this day. 🙂

Ruthie had a beautiful day playing with Jasper and she is very grounded in her ability to say what she likes and doesn’t like with kindness and her radiant smile! Avaline is filled with fun, adventure, strength in her body and great openness for the adventures of the day. Puma loves to share with others his great physical skill and I can see his easy, kind and generous smile radiating to the whole group throughout the day and every day that we have been together. And Vita, well she is such a delight with her warmth, kindness, strong body and adventuresome self!!

This group is possibly the first group that I have encountered that pretty much has no stick thing going on. The only one actually that wants to pick up or play with sticks is Avaline and she does it by way of noticing it’s many shapes and then using them for walking sticks. None of these boys so far have played with sticks. Though I find it a normal thing I confess, it is very peaceful with out sticks being used for flying or swinging around and being used for some weapon.

When we had to leave for the walk back all were alive and energetic and by the time we got back to the bus they were well spent and quite settled down for the ride home.