Friday, March 2, 2018

Welcome back! Nests, porcupines, ice, oh my!

When we said goodbye in December, our land was covered in snow, now its covered in ice! Before we began our day we came up with some creative ways to safely navigate our slippery adventure.
We walked like bobcats on all fours and penguins waddling along to keep ourselves safe. 

And then we were off to the yellow trail! We had two special missions in mind. The first was to find and learn about nests. We know the some are low and some are high. Some are big and some are small. Some are only used once and some are used again and again. We saw many of these types of nests on our adventure, although the highest ones are hard to spot! 


We also wanted to map out the yellow trail from start to finish and mark where we saw interesting things like birds nests, scat, or tracks. 

First some rabbit tracks! These are our favorite to find, because after everyone starts doing their own bunny hop! 



We navigated over some logs and came to a natural ice rink! It was so fun to slide around on and crack with our boots. 



We were so surprised to see the changes that big winds had brought to the yellow trail since the last visit. We walked by what we thought was the porcupine's aka David Bowie old house, but it was now totally blocked by a down tree! And to even more surprise he was home!! He was very cozy in a pile of his own scat and quills and we each took turns quietly climbing closer for a peek...so cool! 



Bobcats! 

"Bottom-boggening"


Another nest way up high! 


Katie spotted this nest that might of belonged to a robin. It was made partly of mud and had little pieces of tarp and maybe horse hair woven throughout.




In the afternoon we went out to the big hill and saw some leftover tracks that looked bigger because of the ice. They went around the whole perimeter of the big field, hugging the forest. Because it walked so straight (to save energy) and we could see its nails, we guessed they belong to a coyote. 


I hear the wolf and the fox and the weasel! 
Ow, ow, ow!!! 


Winter Tea Party!

Welcome to our Winter Tea Party! We are celebrating with a snowy lantern walk through the labyrinth to sing songs and share in joy together with our friends and families! 
Katie showing off the decorations we made for our celebration. 


With all this snow we were very eager to get some good sledding in before the party started, so off we went. 


We creeped, crawled, trudged, and even taste tested some snow on our way to the big hill. 


Then some snow friends! Big and small :) 

And so much fun on the big hill. 
Before everyone arrived, we had some much needed quiet cozy time with tea, popcorn, stories, and bit of yoga. 


Enjoying the labyrinth, singing songs, laughter...what better way to celebrate the first semester of Wren's Nest! 

Thank you all for coming and for all you do to make our days here possible! See you at the end of January! 


Lanterns & snow, Hey oh! Hey oh!


Onto the next phase of preparation for our Winter Tea Party! We have invited our friends and families to join us for a Labyrinth Lantern Walk at Wrens Nest. 
We use tissue paper and bit of glue over a glass jar to create our lanterns. 



Everyone worked hard to make their lantern their own, and then it was off to play in the snow, snow, snow! 

We did some creative (belly toboggan and sharing one sled) sledding...


And then off to the summit of breezy mountain! We were tired but our strong legs got us up the mountain. 




We recognized our fort, climbing log, and weaving from the summer. Climbing was trickier with a layer of snow, but we used our bodies to figure out how to climb and scramble without slipping. 


We were delighted to see our weaving leftover from the Autumn. 




The long walk back to the eco lodge.... 


Blue sky and a bit of snow! w

Katie read us some good books before mindfulness... 

And then back to sled on the mini hill! 

Hoping for more of the white stuff for our Winter Tea Party next week!