We began the day with some team building games and a circle of thanks. We read a book about giving thanks to the earth and our resources and went around the circle sharing what we were thankful for. Then we had snack and loaded up the vans! The Bobcats went to Base Camp (Katie’s property). Base camp is fully equipped for all kinds of outdoor fun including shelter building, slack line, archery, hiking, and making art projects! The Otters went to Shidoni. The open fields of grass with beautiful big sculptures also created a great setting for a lot of games and art. They used pencils and watercolor to paint the statues, and played games like ‘night at the museum’ and ‘frog detective’ as well as tag and hide and seek. We also played in the river bed, which, sadly, is all dry. The kids didn’t mind and jumped right in to dig in the mud and build with mud and rocks. It was a wonderful, cool summer day!

The whole group, BIGS and LITTLES, stuck together today. In the morning we learned about ants and practiced teamwork. We hiked on the trail, stopped for lunch, hiked over rocks and through the river, and made it to the falls. Everyone was so excited to play in the water and build in the river using driftwood and rocks. We read more books about insects, and then we all gathered together to hike back. It was a wonderful day and a wonderful hike!

LITTLES: We learned about butterflies and practiced our yoga butterfly pose. We explored the old town, saw goats, and visited the blacksmith. We then went by some beautiful cotton woods to read stories, work on water colors, play games, and climb trees. Almost everyone fell asleep in the van home after a very fun and sunny day!

BIGS: We had the best time here collecting big handfuls of cotton coming from the cottonwood trees!  We talked to the blacksmith and he showed us how to make an iron fork with a twist in it. He said it takes about four hour to make one fork!  We went to the old school house and pretended to be in school.  We did cursive practice on the chalkboards.

This location is very special, so if you have not been there here is also some info on the place:

This historic Rancho, now a living history museum, dates from the early 1700s and was an important ‘paraje’ or stopping place along the famous Camino Real, the Royal Road from Mexico City to Santa Fe.

LITTLES: Shidoni Sculpture Garden

We had a wonderful time with all the huge sculptures. The grassy area gave us lots of room for running and playing. We played frog detectives and learned a lot about bees. We all got tattoos with a trout and a message to take care of the river and the Santa Fe National Forest! We all chose a statue to draw and make up stories about. Then we read books about spiders and bees! It was a wonderful, low key day!

BIGS: Base Camp

We got oriented to Base Camp and the started a game of Sardines. We took turns doing archery, shelter building and mountain biking before lunch.   After lunch some of us made sunprints of insects while others chose to do more archery and shelter building.  As a group we made a really awesome shelter where we had story time to end the day!

LITTLES

We learned about insects. We learned that not all insects are bugs, we just liked to call lots of non-bugs by that name. We saw beautiful blue and red dragonflies. We did an insect scavenger hunt with buddies. We played in the pond and searched for macro aquatic invertebrates and we found some! We had lunch and played games to get to know one another.

BIGS

We hiked around all of the beaver ponds – found fossils and then went on a scavenger hunt for insects and found more than 23 species in less than 2 minutes of looking!

We all began the day with a story about salmon boy – a native American myth – told by Ashley. After snack we headed to Tsankawi for the day.

LITTLES: We had lunch and then began our hike. We talked about mesas and petroglyphs. We went up a big ladder and hiked up to the highest mesa. The view was beautiful. We sat in the shade to rest. Then we heard thunder so we sang songs to ask the skies for rain and hiked back down. We arrived in the shelter and it began to rain! During that time we put together our art books and played and colored!

BIGS: We had a great hike!  We stopped at the interpretive signs to learn about the ancestral pueblo people and their two-story buildings, petroglyphs and agriculture.  When we got to the caves we stopped for a rest and talked about what life would be like there, and what we would miss about our modern lives.  We were blessed by a light rain at the end of our hike – it was so nice to cool down!

Quote of the Day: “This is a big hike, a beautiful hike, a fun hike, right?” -Duncan