Exploring

Good morning and welcome back to Piers Park! This Monday morning I spent time kayaking in the Harbor with 3 explorers: Allison, Ken, and Aden. They paddled their way towards the bridge because it was low tide and they wanted to know what kind of life was lurking in the seaweed on the rocks. Motivated by the findings of moon jellies, they were really excited to find something. The waters were calm this morning so it was easy for us to wade around and find sea snails camouflaged amongst the rocks. We were able to find plenty, but we could only reach so far, so we ended with just 3 sea snails along with a side of seaweed and a moon jelly. They were ecstatic to bring it back to the touch tank to share with everyone. The touch tank became a mini aquarium within minutes. We had seaweed, green crabs, baby fish, barnacles, moon jellies, and sea snails! It was so cool to create a tiny environment, the kids insisted it would help give the marine organisms a home-away-from-home feeling. By the end of the day we were all satisfied with our findings and ourselves.

Wonder Ball

Tuesday, I visited Blacks creek for the first time this summer. It was another one of those really hot days but that didn't stop us from beating the heat. We began the day with a game of netball! This wasn't just any regular game of catch, it was trickier. The rules of the game were simple, catch the ball with your net and avoid dropping it into the water. As simple as it sounds, things became a little competitive. We started out with four people, Ariagnna and myself accompanied by Sal and Vanessa. The ball was high up in the air one moment and we raced to catch it the next. It was exciting and fun, which welcomed more people to join us. Eric joined Ariagnna and I had young Zoey join my team. We were all focused on the game that time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to say our goodbyes.

During our second group, we did not have as much people so we spent a little time playing netball but more time invested in our crab trap and touch tank. The kids were a little intimidated by the amount of crabs they were seeing all at once but so excited to see them race against each other. I helped give out a few crabs before they lined up and began the race. There was lots of encouragement coming from the tiny crowd to help the crabs get a move on. My favorite part of the day had to be towards the end when we played wonder ball. If you have ever played it, you know how serious it becomes when there is a small amount of people left. It was like another game of netball but much closer and fast paced. We sang, "The Wonder Ball goes round and round..." and as the tempo picked up it got a little more intense. Then again, before we were able to get to a final round we had to pack up and leave. All in all, this hot day did not go to waste. 

Netball

Sand Castle Building Station

I met up with my little friend, Zoey again, who helped my build a sand castle! It was a quiet and cool morning at Blacks Creek. Far too cool to go into the water so the children decided on playing in the sand. With a mini pail, shovel, and rake in hand I picked a spot in the sand to begin building. Zoey walked over and asked if she could join me, she came up with the idea of decorating the castle and the ground around it to make it stand out. We built one main castle and 7 mini ones around it. Zoey added windows and a drawbridge then I added rocks for a finishing touch.  We then joined everyone to make our way up to play a few games of Gaga ball. We played about 5 rounds before it was time to go and each round became more fun than the previous one. Colin explained the rules as everyone surrounded the pit and they all nodded their heads in unison, indicating they understood and were ready for the challenge to begin. Little Zoey was a little shy, but excited, she was a great sport even when she was tagged out. When the final round came around all the kids had a determined look on their face to win but Colin stood his ground and was the champ by the end.

Zoey & K's Castle

 On All Access,we had the opportunity to bring out and serve 430 people to George's Island. I spent the day fishing with different groups of kids but the one's who stood out to me were two kids named Aliana and Yamil. They reminded me of my younger siblings. It was their first time on George's and their very first time fishing. For 7-year olds they were quite patient for their first time. They listened carefully when I told them about the types of creatures they could catch. They helped me pull up the crab trap and counted all the green, spider. and red rock crabs we had. They took turns fishing, if Aliana was fishing then Yamil would be at the touch tank and vice versa.