I spent today with Mary and Katie along the Eno River in northern Durham. Last fall, we were supposed to attend an outdoors/Native American class. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of our few rainy days of the Fall and we had to reschedule. How lucky we ended up being!My neighbor offered to watch Emily & Robbie for me so that I could actually tag along with Mary and Katie. That worked out wonderfully, as the little ones could stay here, play with their friends and nap in their beds. And, I could spend some time focusing on the big ones.
I went with Katie's group for the first half of the day. We hiked, found walnuts, talked about the trees, observed the waterfall (testing it by throwing sticks and watching them flow over), and visited a traditional Cherokee cedar hut.
Everyone meet back at the field to have a picnic lunch together. It was so relaxing to sit back and let the kids visit with their friends, playing tag and climbing trees. At the end of lunch we had a large group session with music and Native American stories.
The second session I hung out with Mary, but because they ended up on two different tracks we did similar things, just at a more advance level. Their teacher took them down to the mill and showed how the water wheel worked. Then, they went down to the river and practiced "spear fishing." A hike along the river bank and a game that helped them practice their 'Heron' walk (walking quietly). Mary won this game, twice - something I may have to keep in mind.
The session that I didn't get to do was focused on Native games and Mary learned how to make fire, something she was really looking forward to doing. The girls both gave it two thumbs up.
I wish I had more pictures, but halfway there I realized that I had forgotten my camera. We found Mary's camera in the car but the batteries were going dead. We will definitely return to the Eno River for another field trip.
Peace,
Amy
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