Happenings

The summer trips my family takes are always met with great anticipation-especially if it involves a visit to Mammoth Lakes, California…my all time favorite place to be! One of the reasons I enjoy this trip so much is that I am give nthe chance to take my children on some of the same adventures I went on as a child. However, while exposign them to my own memorable experiences, I inadvertantly create new ones for them in the process.

That was what happened warm summer afternoon as we ventured out on a hike. Our original plan was to follow a familiar trail that runs just below Old Mammoth Rock.

“Mike,” I hollered up the trail, “let’s just go around this bend and stop-I don’t want the kids to get too tired.”

“Oh Mommy,” Carrie whined, “Can’t we walk all the way to there…” she asked pointing far across the meadow that lay below us.

“I don’t know Carrie,” Mike replied, “It’s awfully far.”

“Peeeeeez,” three year old Christopher chimed in.

With much hesitation, we relented and agreed to hik the entire 3 mile trail down the mountain and across the meadow below.

Our hike was fairly quiet as Carrie took the lead along the dusty trail. I followed a short ways behind her holding Christopher’s hand so he wouldn’t wander off the trail and Mike walked beside us. Suddenly from up ahead, Carrie turned and chattered, “Hey look! A horse!”

“No there’s not, Carrie,” I answered condescendingly, “Horses don’t come up here on this trail, it’s too narrow!”

“Uh-huh Mommy! I saw a horse!”

I rolled my eyes, not believing a word she said and tried to catch up with her to show her just how wrong she was. As Christopher and I emerged from the trees to where Carrie stood we were greeted by the shock of our lives! As it turned out, it was not just A horse on the trail-it was A hundred horses clampering up the trail in front of us! As luck would have it, we had stumbled upon an old fashioned horse drive.

We had to step off of the trail to allow the ginormous herd of horses to pass. While waiting, we sat on a giant boulder just watching the 100 horses make their way from their winter home in Independence, California to their summer home in mammoth Lakes. We’ve never seen that many horses at once…what a moment to remember!

Students:  This week I would like you to focus on writing a QUALITY comment to this blog. I am seeing too many comments where the only thing you have to say to the writer is “I liked it.” or “That was really good but you need flashy vocab” (there is so much more to writing than flashy vocab!) Think about what a teacher or another adult would say to the writer about the piece…please respond to this piece with a QUALITY comment in which you:

1.  Tell the writer at least one specific thing that you liked or you believe is a strength about the piece (besides flashy vocab!)

2.  Give the writer at least one suggestion for improvement…every writer has room to grow, but they won’t know what to do unless you tell them!