Our first day together was spent at Hoag's Pond. This hidden wetland sits within the "Hundred Acre Wood"; and has been preserved for public enjoyment. Because of it's relative secluded nature it is chock full of life; ducks, deer, frogs, dragonflies and damselflies galore, great blue herons, an otter or fox.
Fledglings spent the day exploring nature, playing games, getting to know one another, and learning the foundational mottos of our organization. Of most importance is our safety first motto. We know that both physical and emotional safety are important for a successful experience. By emphasizing both repeatedly we hope to establish a culture where we feel free to explore, express their needs, and widen our circle in reaching out to make new friends. These Fledglings brought up the golden rule of treating others like you want to be treated, and they practiced this "rule" in their interactions all week, with minimal reminders from mentoring team.
Thanks to the warm weather and our water consumption, we attained a new comfort using the nature potty, with repeated practice "peeing like a bear". We got stuck in the mud, scraped knees, got stung by nettle, explored our individual roles in our group dynamic, made fairy villages and connected to nature and each other is all kinds of ways. On their own initiative, we played 12+ rounds of duck, duck, goose, using different animals as context and taking turns so that each person got a chance.
For many, their favorite time together today was actually spent alone, in about twenty minutes of quiet, solo time during a cherished tradition called peaceful place. Think of the last time you were able to spend quiet time in nature, just observing and connecting to nature in your own way. Remember how it feels. What a gift this is to a child! To anyone. We ended the day with a circle, taking turns expressing our gratitude for what we connected with. This Attitude of Gratitude is both a motto and a tradition. Please ask your Fledgling what they were most grateful for!Day 2: Bakerview Beach (A big thank you to the Campbells for allowing us to access the beach from their home -and sharing their sweet dog Cocoa!)
Others chose to stay closer to our home base in the driftwood logs and began excavating and building their castles, exploring nature close at hand and social relationships. This divided the group temporarily, but gave these children freedom to fuel their wonder and curiosity, explore their senses, choose their path and engage with each other in small groups. These small groups utilize a high level of collaboration and compromise skills as we navigate the social realm of play; sharing ideas, choosing who to explore with, who to play with and how to work together as they problem solved while building their villages. These are critical life skills! They practiced and became confident going potty outdoors at this point, as again we drank lots of water.
We stood on top of a mountain! Well, we discovered that by standing on the sand in the estuary, we were actually standing on the eroded product of the glacier's work in the mountains. It's a river's job to bring the mountains down to the sea, and they break up those big boulders on the mountains, crash them around as they tumble downstream until they reach the bay as the sand particles we were standing on. There was this long pregnant pause and then, "Whoa". Which lead to jumping, of course!
We circled up after this long day of sunshine to express our gratitude for the gifts of the day. Words of the Day: Gud (Good mud), fun, sun, Cocoa, estuary, Salish Sea.
Day 3: Lake Padden!
The Wild Whatcom motto most in play today (besides Safety first!) was It's about the journey, not the destination. We started our day with a game, Pack Leader. We welcomed each other, acknowledged our tired bodies and went on our journey of exploration with a somewhat more subdued feel to our group. We had settled into a routine of finding a new trail buddy, "It's harder to find someone I don't know, now" and being open to the journey of discovery that awaited us. First, though, spiderwebs! A reflection of our very first moments together, exploring spiderwebs went from wonder and admiration for their structure and beauty to a thorough examination of spider silk, different silk consistency and identifying the subtle differences between female/male spiders, anatomy and comparison to insects and related arachnids, like Daddy Longlegs/Harvestmen.
We hiked along the Padden Gorge for a bit, revisiting some plant identification like nettles, and did the Oregon Grape challenge, and then up into the forest to what was to become our playground for the next 3 hours. We mentors didn't start off with that intention, but it was clear to us that these fledglings were in need of some downtime to relax and play. They needed time to explore freely to connect with nature, and each other in new ways. They were tired, and needed a bit of rest, snack and water and time to unwind by playing. There is ample research supporting the long term value of unstructured time to play in nature. Those children lucky enough to have time to freely play in nature, are more likely to develop a relationship with nature, even a love for nature, and are more likely to take care of nature when they are grown ups. 
We finally decided we were hungry enough and it was hot enough to hike back down to the lake, eat lunch and go swimming for our last activity together. There were many sighs as we realized that our days together were coming to a close. We ended with a circle of gratitude for each other, which was challenging for some of us. It is understandably difficult to express personal feelings to a group, especially at this age.We agreed on our words for the day: slugs, mud, friends, Wild Whatcom!
Click right here for the photo album for this session of camp.
