Yesterday marked our first official day of summer programming, and I was reminded of how wonderful it is to get to spend the day outdoors. I started off the day at the Boston Children's Museum, alongside fellow Senior Harbor Educators and a handful of amazing junior assistants. We all quickly learned that this site is quite different from the others, and the high level of energy required to interact with the public non-stop! Because of its location right on the beautiful Harborwalk, combined with the flow of families visiting the museum, I had the pleasure of educating a large number of kids and their families on the differences between spider crabs and green crabs. Seeing and holding a spider crab for the first time was just as exciting to me as it was to the kids, and they seemed to love feeling the bumps and hairs on its back. Today specifically was a day for green crabs, as we pulled up numerous ones that got caught in our crab trap, fascinating the kids. One kid in particular could not pull himself away from fishing with Alie, as he excitedly told us about how he's in Boston all the way from Los Angeles, and that his next stops are Miami, Paraguay, back to Miami, and then finally back home to L.A. I love hearing stories from kids who have been fortunate enough to travel throughout their young lives, as I know it is benefiting all of us to have them experience different cultures at such early ages!
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| Alie assisting our young world traveler on the Harborwalk |
Each day, I transition from the Children's Museum up to Community Boating on the Esplanade along the Charles River -- one of my personal top 3 favorite spots to enjoy in the city. Most of the kids there today were there yesterday on our first day, and it's great to hear how many different communities they come from including West Roxbury, Malden, Medford, Newton, Chinatown and Cambridge. One thing they all have in common is that they absolutely love fishing, even when the fish don't seem to be biting! One of the kids got extremely lucky today, and caught 24 sunfish just by himself. Our bait is not traditional, rather, we make what we have named "carp cookies," small balls of dough consisting of flour and water, then rolled in sugar. The best part is that the fish go crazy over this concoction, and a couple of the girls love making the dough. With assistance from one of the staff members at Community Boating, our group also had the opportunity to head out onto the river in one of the sailboats. Tomorrow promises to be equally exciting, as eel traps were the talk of the day today, along with more fishing for tomorrow!
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| Alex, the Sunfish-Catching-Mastermind |
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| Glenn and Carlos showing off their sunfish |
-Ashley, Senior Harbor Educator -- Boston Children's Museum & Community Boating
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