Mountain Kids

Last Day for Summer 2010: Meet the Zwibbles!

Our final day of Mountain Kids and the day of our party for the earth!  The kids chose to dress up as their favorite animal (although most of the animal noses and antennae did not make it down the arroyo to the party!).  We began to hike down the arroyo to Fort Marcy Park, and did pretty well, considering the heat. We prepared for the hot day by wetting down our new homemade bandanas and putting ice inside them and setting out.  We made it about half way where we ate lunch and decided it was just too hot to walk the whole way. So Edie picked us up in the Adventure Bus, a welcome sight! 

We arrived at the park for our big party where we were met by Cliff Ross, our new Zwibble friends, parents, delicious cupcakes, and watermelon!  (Thanks Sandra, Nancy and Janine for the food!) Everyone met their Zwibble and then we released the butterflies that we had watched transform from caterpillars to chrysalis' to butterlfies; what a perfect gift for the earth!  We ate delicious cupcakes and watermelon, and everyone took home their nature journal, their Mountain Kids t-shirt and their new Zwibble.  It was a great way to end a fabulous summer of camp!  Thanks all for a really fun summer!

Chelsea and Indie in their animal roles.

Madeleine as a butterfly.

Edie was some sort of strange hybrid between animal and insect!

Sweet Spencer!  Or is that a Jaguar?!

Che, an adorable butterfly...

Jackson...I think... definitely a good disguise!

Jackson Y., our resident human!

Madeleine and a couple of insects.

Skyler, the fox.

We venture out on our hike to the party at Fort Marcy!

Let the party begin!  Cliff brought a basket full of Zwibbles to meet their new friends.

Mountain Kids and Zwibbles, united at last!

Releasing the butterflies;

a perfect gift for the Earth!  

Happy birthday, Earth!  Happy summer, everyone!

Week 6: Animals in Espanola, Round Mountain (Kids) on the Plaza, and the Final Tire Swing!

Our final week of Mountain Kids camp for summer...so sad!  The weeks have flown by and we have all had a great time exploring the forests and rivers near Santa Fe, learning about nature, and going farther afield to the Jemez, Glorieta, and Espanola!

This week was all about Animals.  We started on Tuesday by talking about the food chain and classifying animals as carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.  We played some games and then set off to the Espanola Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw a snake eating a mouse, birds of all sizes, foxes and bobcats. We ate lunch while a hawk flew to and fro inside the classroom we were eating!  Very cool.

On Wednesday, we assembled our nature journals with the projects we had been doing all summer. Edie also showed us all how to walk like different types of animals, and we learned how to stalk an animal too.  For our adventure, it was 'kids choice' day, as it was our last day "out" for Mountain Kids this summer. The kids chose to go to the Plaza to hear the Round Mountain concert and then to the tire swing at Little Tesuque Creek. We also made animal noses in preparation for our big party for the earth on Thursday!

Meeting an owl

and a snake at Espanola Wildlife Sanctuary.

Animals on the Plaza: Edie the bear!

Spencer, the fierce dragon!

On our way to the tire swing; Sam makes a leaf hat (It was hot!).

The tire swing!  Sklyer gives Madeleine a push.

The boys make a 'dam' to catch water bugs.

Edie shows Che, Chelsea and Medeleine how African tribes use mud to create beautiful art on their skin.

Indie takes Penelope, the Zwibble, for a ride!

The dam makers.  It is amazing how much less water there is here than 5 weeks ago!

Spencer; monkeying around!

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Week 5: Minibeasts and More!

This week was all about insects, arachnids and other small creatures.  On Tuesday, we went to the Big T where the kids found many insects to examine in our bug jar.  We also collected bark and pine cones to make a dye bath. Many of the kids wanted to play "Meet a Tree" again, which was great fun with some very big and very tiny trees!  (Meet a Tree is where one person is blindfolded and then brought to a tree. They then have to smell, touch, feel and hug it.  They are then led back to where they started, the blindfold is removed, and then they try to find their tree.) 

On Wednesday we went to our property in Chupadero where we saw our neighbor Eric's beehive.  We also played "Human Camera"  where one partner leads another with eyes closed to a beautiful sight, the leader then trips the shutter by pulling an earlobe or tapping the human camera's head.  The "camera" person then returns to draw a picture of what she saw for her partner.  There were some beautiful drawings!  After lunch we hiked around our property and found some pottery shards from past inhabitants!

On Thursday we returned to our Mansion Ridge Base Camp.  We started the day playing with clay and exploring the forest.  Sandra Odems (Sam's Mom) led us in some yoga, and we learned that Babar and his friends have practiced yoga for a very long time!   After circle and snack, we went for a hike down the arroyo where we stopped to play games, make rattles, and eat lunch.  We all had fun playing "What time is it Mr. Wolf?", "Giants, Wizards and Elves", and making up games involving horses, snakes and pigs! We returned to base camp in the afternoon to tie dye cotton fabric for bandanas in our home made dye bath.

Edie and kids break up pine cones and bark for our dye bath.

Joaquin leads Sklyer to Meet a Tree.

Jackson Y. leads Indie to a special tree.

Chelsea found a Cicada shell and a beautiful rock.

The kids look for pottery shards in Chupadero.

Sandra leads us all in Tree pose. 

Zubin, Indie and Owen dunk their tie dyed bandanas in our home made dye bath.

The ropes at Base Camp are always popular!

 
A great week!
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

Week 4: In Search of Water

This week we talked about water. We learned about otters and how they disappeared from New Mexico rivers more than 60 years ago due to lack of water.  We talked about how they are being reintroduced into New Mexico, and everyone received an Otter Bank to collect pennies for water for the otters. Every penny equals one gallon of water for the otters! Everyone received a beaded blue bracelet to remind us to conserve water on a daily basis.  We also talk about what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico and did a meditation to pray for all living things being affected. We went on several adventures in search of water; the Rio en Medio Trail, Las Golondrinas, and Tsankawi (part of Bandelier).  A very full and fun week!

In Search of Water:

Would we find it in the sky?

Or down below where snail friends hide?

 

In the goat's pen at Las Golondrinas?  

Surely there's gotta be some of it near us!

 

Perhaps there's water in this tree?

 

Or in this plant? There must be!

 

Did it help make this groove, along with so many feet?

 

"Please let me have some. I promise to be sweet!"
 

I'll climb ladders, walk miles, or turn the tap, just to get it.

 

How did these people do it?  They likely had to walk far.

 

Katie and Edie had us run, and spill nary a drop!

 

It sure is hard work, but I will not stop!

 

Alas, we found some spots that water makes all lush and green.

The Rio en Medio is one; do you think that it's clean?

We hiked far just to get here, and then we were late! 

Good thing Mountain Kids parents are really so great. ;)

An acequia found; a New Mexico tradition.

Ponds too are a treat, where some like to go fishin'!

Of course, we just poked around

 

and found plenty of life

which we left mostly alone

and took only pictures, so as not to cause strife.

Skyler turns the camera on the photographer for a change!