Outing to Clayton Beach 9-18-15

Hello, Fiddleheads families!

We are trying a new format for sharing reports and photos from Girls Explorers Club (GEC) outings. Each day will be featured in a blog post (like this one) with a link to the day's pictures. Your feedback is welcome as we test out this new system!

Fiddleheads

What a fun-filled day we had exploring with your wonderful daughters! It was a day of connection, laughter, adventure, and discovery. After the day was through, Laura and I commented on how kind and enthusiastic these gals are! The girls were quick to lend a helping hand, they Widened Their Circle and met new friends, and they explored nature with open eyes and open hearts. As we dove deeper into our first adventure as the Fiddleheads, the group melded together as old friends reunited and new friendships began to blossom. We had the thought that some of these girls might explore nature and life's journey together for years to come; how amazing to think that some of these girls might stay together up to and throughout their middle school years, forming a strong and beautiful sisterhood that will help support them as they continue to grow into adulthood.

Explorers' Club has several mottos that we'll be referring to frequently.  One we introduced, Sunday, is It's About the Journey, Not the Destination. We move slowly, discovering our surroundings and ourselves as we travel. Thus, sometimes it takes awhile to "get" to where we're "going" (wherever we are is where we're going!). For example, our day began at 9:30. We arrived at the beach at 12:30! We took some time to get to know each other, learning each other's names (and nicknames!), and a little about who we are and what we like to do. Along the way to the beach, we looked in awe at the fallen branches from the big August wind storm. Nature truly is an amazing and powerful thing! The girls were introduced to forest bathroom etiquette, many chose to Stretch Their Edge by climbing up the Dragon's Spine Trail, and they all practiced Collaborate and Compromise, making decisions as a group about which direction they'd like to go.

Dragon's Spine Trail

On the beach, we scrambled over sandstone, discovered the intertidal zone and all the crabs, limpets, and sea anemones living within; found charcoal and drew nature pictures, collected sea glass, and enjoyed quiet time in our Peaceful Places, observing nature and connecting to the sand, waves, and wind that surrounded us. 

Clayton Beach

Other Explorers' Club mottos were woven throughout the day (such as: Be Prepared, Safety First, S.T.O.P, We're All Teachers, Attitude of Gratitude, LIBK-Let It Be Known, Always Meet Before You Eat). We just touched on our mottos yesterday - over time in EC they get fleshed out, deepened, and added to by others. We also just tasted some EC core routines, like opening and closing meeting, collaborative decision making, Peaceful Place time, naturalist knowledge, and circle of thanks. Another EC core routine, collaboratively deciding upon our Words of The Day, yielded this spot-on description from the girls: "Rocky sand, meeting friends"

That was an overview of our day, but there was much more. I invite you to check out the full photo album with your daughter, and she can fill in the rest.

Thank you for this opportunity to explore with your girls - It is an honor!

- Hannah & Laura

Service w/ Greenways @ Whatcom Creek 9-19-15

Under a grey misting blanket of clouds, the brave (and slightly sleepy) Fiddleheads came together with the Salish Seals on a Saturday morning to serve, learn, play, and connect at the Bellingham library. As girls gathered at Lee Memorial Park (behind the library), we played a couple rousing games of Head Butt Tag and Your Biggest Fan to get our blood circulating and warm our spirits for our task ahead.

At our check-in, we moved our bodies according to how we were feeling this particular morning, and there was lots of stretching, for sure! This image of stretching extends into Stretching Your Edge, a EC motto sure to apply over the course of the season, and the years ahead. These mottos serve as a reference to the culture of respect and growth we are continually fostering here during our outings. Other mottos explored by these girls were Widen the Circle, Walk Your Talk and Our Cups Overflow. Test your daughter's memory by asking her what these mean, and maybe even ask her to show you a demo of Our Cups Overflow! (All of our mottos can be found on our website: http://wildwhatcom.org/mottos/)

We talked about the importance of serving in a community, and came together with the Fiddleheads for the Our Cups overflow activity. We widened our circles by playing a couple of bonding games (Loggers Handshake and People to People) with these new friends! Energy was high and we were all warmed up and ready to tackle our service project en force. We walked over to City Hall and were greeted by the friendly staff at Greenways. The FIddleheads were excited to learn that we would be helping an "island," a lovely cluster of plants in the middle of a concrete walking path. Rae, the knowledgeable and welcoming leader from Greenways, led us over to the island and taught us about the overgrown plants we'd be removing to make the area more beautiful AND more safe for everyone who walks by: Bindweed (or Morning Glory) and dead fern fronds. Greenways crew provided us with many tips to keep our Safety First, including wearing gloves and carrying and using tools safely.

These Fiddleheads went to work removing the designated plants, using their hands, clippers and hori hori tools to clean up the island. While working we Widened the Circle by partnering up with someone we did not know very well. Many of these girls focused their abundant energy on taking down the wild and thorny rose bushes, and a few girls have the war wounds to prove it. Getting poked by the thorns did not slow us down much. We did marvel at the thorn structure and ability to protect this plant. 


After finishing our service, we went to help the Salish Seals clean up their site, only to find that they had been cutting back and collecting rose hips from native rose bushes within their site! Since the Rose hips were so plentiful and ready for harvest, we gathered several pounds of Rose hips for their beauty and their medicine, as Rosehips have a lot of Vitamin C! We hope to turn these hips to tea, and provide a warm drink on a cold outing in the future!

These girls worked with integrity and great focus, and had more fun than they expected for nearly 3 hours in the spitting rain and chill of the day. Despite these conditions, parents may be surprised that there was ZERO complaining. There was a few discussions about who's turn it was to use the clippers, as these were the most useful tool today and in high demand. Waiting when you REALLY want something is a good exercise in practicing patience, right?  We may have discovered that doing good physical work can be fun! After finishing our service project and walking around the island (A Victory Lap) to see the difference we had made, Rae with Greenways came over to thank us for our service and help us haul our load back to City Hall.

We wrapped up this outing by eating lunch together as a large group and returned to the library lawn to hold our closing circle with a round of our Attitude of gratitude in which we give thanks for one thing about our morning. We left just enough room to play Toilet Tag, Turkey Vulture Tag and an excellent game of Snort. 

Our Words of the Day?: "Helping plants and nature survive through service!" For a complete photo album of this service day, click here!

-Hannah