March 24th, 2017 by mica
It’s time for me to brag on Brightworks. Here are a few snapshots of what his class has been up to the last few weeks, as they enter their last arc of the year, “by water.”
A few weekends ago, the Blue Band had the chance to board a historic ship, docked on the San Francisco coast line, to re-enact life on a 1906 ship. 
Ronan had an amazing time and came home with so many stories about ship life, as well as new sailor words and sea shanties. The only part he said he wouldn’t repeat was the “night watch.” Haha. His crew was roused from their warm beds in the middle of the night for a 2 hour silent watch shift. More sea stories can be found at the Blue Band blog post here 
Following this experience, the kids visited several museums, a master boat crafter, and the open sea, to learn how to row and how to build boats. Eventually they found themselves immersed in a series of experiments exploring buoyancy.
From buoyancy, they moved into the idea of floating, and eventually took on the challenge of building a boat strong enough to float one person (out of cardboard and plastic).
Just yesterday the kids went out to Stow Lake to test their boats on the open water. Ronan’s teacher wrote a great summary of the day’s events here, detailing all the project and social learning that went into the boat challenge.
The blog post that Mackenzie wrote is such an amazing example of her work as a teacher. The boat challenge is less about the outcome of the boat’s strength and more about the process of learning to iterate, make mistakes and work together as a group. She pours out positivity on the kids all day long, seeing the”good” in each of them while pushing them to grow further into their potential. Her work as a teacher seems deeply aligned with her vocation.
We asked Ronan if he wanted to go to the cabin with us for the last snow of the season and he politely declined, saying he didn’t want to miss school. What?!!
Much gratitude for this place that Ronan now actually calls his “home.”
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March 14th, 2017 by mica
The past few weeks have been full of visits, events and friends. We had the pleasure of hosting the Da Rosa family at Byrne a little while back. It was fun to see how quickly and naturally the cousins fell into relationship with one another.
The boys went on a field trip together o Angel Island to learn about the history of immigration on the island. I was having some envy of my own.
A sweet moment between these two loves!
Friendships continue to be of utmost importance to Austin. She lights up when she’s around her people!
Austin worked hard on all the details for her 7th birthday party. Here she’s drawing the cakewalk for her “game” theme party.
This past weekend I was away at a Hakomi training while Gentry spent the weekend with the kiddos. Here’s a shot from breakfast out and about at Alice’s. Looking at this pic more closely, Ronan seems painfully ready for his pancakes. I introduced the concept of “hangry” to Ronan one afternoon and he laughed and laughed, making me double check that the word was indeed in the dictionary.
It was fun to return Sunday evening and hear all the stories and fun that the crew had been up to while I was away. It’s a good life when you have the time to take a break and engage in a personal interest AND when you get to come home to such a loving family.
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March 2nd, 2017 by mica
March 1st, 2017 by mica
People have always told me, but it is hard to believe how quickly it all goes. Austin is now 7!
She woke on the morning of her birthday to a trail of paper 7’s, leading her to different treasures and small presents around the house.
The last treasure trail took her to a part of the house that I had converted into an artist studio for Austin. She loves having a quiet, undisturbed place to work and I had a lot of fun setting up her art supplies as well as the brushes and smocks from Grandee’s art studio.
Here she is in her new studio space!
The evening of her birthday, she prepared a menu for her dinner guests and walked around with a notepad, taking everyone’s order. She slipped me pieces of paper with each person’s name and food requests and I became the sous chef in the back, getting meals ready for her to deliver. Completely her idea for how to spend a fun evening!
Austin opened her present from Gentry and I to find a wooden xylophone. She has really enjoyed playing her new instrument and mastering songs. She seems to be a natural.
The school birthday celebration was also a wonderful time for Austin. She walked around the “sun” seven times, and with circle around the class, I told a memory of Austin from each year of her life.
She was beaming on her special day, getting to hand out treats and celebrate with her friends.
Getting to be silly at times too!
Seven years in and Austin continues to be such a source of joy for our family. True to who she was when we first met her, she loves to be with people. Over the years, we are getting to see more and more of her natural desire to care take as well as all of her many artistic interests, from performing, to painting and drawing, to music and dance. She is full of interests, creativity and so much life! Happy birthday love.
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