Embracing my inner child

The first week at Carson Beach was kind of an interesting one. Carson Beach differs from many of the sites due to the fact that there are no specific camps or groups that come to the site every day, or even every week. In many ways, the week seemed to operate in the opposite direction than I had expected, but not in a bad way. The first day, it down poured for the first two hours of work. All of a sudden, the rain cleared, and within about an hour, we had 167 children on the beach! The harbor explorers got to work bringing out materials and fun for our new friends to experience! It was actually a great first day, because it allowed us to get to know our site, get our bearings, and get a handle on how the summer might pan out. It was the perfect day for "land fun," and we had an absolute blast interacting with all of the kids on the beach! (Below, Preston engaging in a soccer game with a few children from the Boys and Girls Club, making the best of a not so great weather day)

So this was how our week and our summer began - 167 children to play with, educate, interact with and learn with. And yet, the week did not end the same way. Thursday and Friday were relatively chilly days on the beach, and the water was pretty choppy. So instead of twiddling our thumbs all day, we decided to use the games and materials at our disposal and get to know each other at the same time. There were six of us at carson on Thursday. Six harbor explorers, no children for a long chunk of time. That means it was time for us to be the children. I cannot remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did when I'd see a frisbee fly overhead and hear my team members yell "GET UP!" or hear the phrase "Bridget, HANDS!" only to turn and see a football headed straight for me (I swear my life flashed before my eyes!). I appreciate that we got the opportunity to interact and hang out with each other, because I learned more about what each of my team members can offer to the children we will continue to serve throughout the rest of the summer. (Below, one of the many times I was taken by surprise, and probably did not "get up" high enough to catch the tricky little thing!)

See you at Carson! - Bridget 

Fishing and Crabbing at Children's

The first full week of my Save the Harbor experience was spent at the Children's Museum. After hearing this was my site for the week I was immediately flooded with memories, due to the fact that my favorite place as a child was the Boston Children's Museum. I found it almost ironic that a place where I spent so much time being supervised and getting taught, I was now the supervisor and the teacher. I was informed that we would be running a fishing and crabbing station, and I was pretty content with that because I enjoyed fishing myself and knew the in's and out's of fishing. I was confident in my ability to teach the children how to fish and was even somewhat excited to fish myself. Throughout the week their was not much luck catching any fish, even though plenty of children thought the lure was a live fish itself. 

Though the fish weren't biting, the crabs certainly were. The first day we managed to pull up 80 crabs from the fishing net, and the children were even more excited about the catch then we were. On almost every occasion, the children were excited and curious upon laying eyes on the crab. Some were scared, and some were so eager they almost were pinched. In both situations I feel as if they enjoyed looking and exploring the crabs themselves.

The abundance of crabs draws attention 

One interaction particularly stood out to me, and that was with a boy who looked about 7 or 8 years old. His name was Maurice, and not only did he stay at the station for about an hour, he asked the most intriguing questions, some of which I did not know were capable for a kid of his age. For example he asked me "are the crabs this particular color because they need to blend into the rock so no one hurts them?". After hearing that I thought to myself how great of a question that was, and how I did not even know the answer. The intelligent questions came right after another and at one point I was tempted to ask his mother how he was so smart for such a young age.

Rods are set to begin the day 

Though Maurice stood out in my mind, the time of being at the Boston Children's Museum was one that officially introduced me into the Save the Harbor Save the Bay experience. From this, I now have a basis of what the organization is all about and hope to use that knowledge going forward.