Summertime!

Every morning, lately, one of the first things we hear from the children is, "Can we go to the dam?" They love to go to wade, swim, fish and explore.
The few hot days we've had were perfect excuses to abandon our usual schedule and just hang out at the rock on the water's edge for hours. We bring along our food, water and towels and have a blast!


Israel is our resident lifeguard. He's enjoying teaching some of the children how to swim.

This is the view from the top of the dam looking down at our crew.




Just one of our lovely mermaids.






















Time for lunch.


Taking a break from the water and making tall grass forts and playing hide and seek.





















Mr Shaw, the sneaky tall grass monster, has been found and properly restrained.



Three cheers for sunshine,
~*Grace

Jumping for joy!

Yeah - weather for swimming! Some of the children really enjoyed doing come cannonballs off of Charlie's shoulders. There's nothing like a big splash in the hot summer sun - especially when the sun has not made too many appearances. We're taking advantage of every ray.

Spring into Summer

Of course we've been so busy with ending the school year and beginning the Summer, that writing blogs has been put on the back burner. Our plan is to have regular weekly updates. We're still adjusting to the new routine and new children. There's so much to appreciate about Summer, but one of our favorite parts is that most of the children stay all day. It provides a smoother more relaxed schedule for all of us. We have hours to explore and work and play.
One of the boys found a dragonfly on a tree. It had just emerged from the water and shed his nymph skin. It was very cool to see!

The ducks have matured enough to go out to the pond. We don't want them to be eaten by anything, so at this point we are leading them out to the pond in the morning and back to their pen at night. This is the first time we've tried it, so all the children are prepared to herd them back if they decide to wander. It was great, because they faithfully followed their "Mama" all the way in to their new swimming hole.

The summertime woodland work has begun. There are villages, forts, trails and hideouts being organized and equipped throughout the Laurel Woods.

Shelter overhead. Ferns,

stumps and rocks below for resting upon after all the work.

How can you help but be happy out here?????

A group of our Kindergarteners and Pre-schoolers gathered before the Summer break.

Another group of Pre-schoolers posing for the camera.
Some children will stay all Summer, others are off. We'll miss them so much!

This has been the rainiest season ever! We've had wet clothes hanging from the rafters. The children come in and pour the water out of their boots - hopefully outside, but not always ;0)

Every day we get to sing our song "We love rain, we love to sing and dance in the rain, jump in the puddles and splash again, we love rain!"

Now, finally the sun is shining this weekend. It is glorious! Maybe this week we'll shed the rainsuits and be back to wearing sunscreen and bugspray. Whatever we put on, it will be fine, because it's a "Wonder-Filled" world, rain or shine.

Until next time,

~*Grace